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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/29008752">A familiar feeling</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sarah_Lucy_2000/pseuds/Sarah_Lucy_2000'>Sarah_Lucy_2000</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Fate: The Winx Saga (TV)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Multi, Other Additional Tags to Be Added</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-01-26</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-04-11</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-13 12:20:06</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Major Character Death</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>8</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>32,705</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/29008752</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sarah_Lucy_2000/pseuds/Sarah_Lucy_2000</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>After the Burned One’s attacked the school many changes wait for Bloom and her friends when they return. The question of why Rosalind replaced Dowling as headmistress, how Sky’s father could have survived and what the three adults are truly after. Because there is one thing for sure: If the queen of Solaria and her army patrol the school something’s got to be seriously wrong.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Bloom &amp; Stella, Bloom/Sky (Winx Club), Farah Dowling &amp; Ben Harvey &amp; Saul Silva, Farah Dowling &amp; Rosalind, Farah Dowling &amp; Saul Silva, Farah Dowling/Saul Silva (formerly)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>25</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>140</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Chapter 1</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>This my second fic total. It will continue later on, though I am a bit busy at the moment with preparing for an important medical test. In Germany people can take a test in May that should determine how good of a doctor a person would make. You get to do the test only once in your life and therefore it's pretty important for me to study at the moment. I will update this story and the other whenever I get the chance to and I hope you understand it.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The rustling of leaves, the harmonic song of the birds, some further away and a few so close she could swear they sat on the tree to her right and the sound of wind blowing through the forest gave her a sense of calmness. It was early autumn and thus the leaves started to change their color into all kinds of ways but still held a bright, almost cheerful shade. Not the brownish color that usually sets in the longer the leaves cover the ground. The sight was truly mesmerizing as Farah made the stroll towards her destination. She took a look around and began rethinking everything that occurred recently and 16 years ago. The fateful day when the three friends wiped out an entire town of apparently innocent people was still nagging on her conscience even though it has been so long ago. Especially these days, with the return of the Burned One’s brought all the old memories, both good and bad, back into her consciousness. The aftermath of the massacre in Aster Dell is and has always the number one reason for Farah’s nightmares. Sometimes the question of the why plagued the woman for days, mostly around the anniversary of the event. If she thought deeply enough, she still remembered all the bodies, littered across the town.</p>
<p>Both human and Burned One’s burned from the lightning they sent into the small village. The houses were still ravaged by the fire that seemed to find no end. This was one of the few occasions she wished to be a water fairy. At least to preserve of the very little things left of the village. She rounded corner after corner, crouched to each of the victims to pray for their lost lives. Some of them were on the run, clearly from the Burned One’s who ran thorugh the town’s streets. A man who seemed to be doing just that before his demise had an expression of pure terror plastered across his face. The fear these people must have felt, she couldn’t even imagine. When she took a closer look around it seemed almost as if the Burned One’s were heading towards a specific part of the village. Almost as if they were hunting something down here.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>However, between all the horror there was one death which stood out to Farah: An adult, most likely a woman, shielding a child in her arms. Not even two feet away from her the ashes of a Burned One. The woman was ready to sacrifice her life to save the small kid. Not being able to look at the scene any longer Farah quickly turned into the next alley to catch her breath. <em>I’ve done this. I’ve killed all these innocent people…</em> Her heart beat what felt like a thousand miles an hour and the scene of the mother, shielding an innocent kid from what would have been its death only to die due to a gigantic lightning bolt made hear sick to her to her stomach. Especially thinking that not even too long ago the roles were reversed for her. She couldn’t keep it together any longer and threw up until her stomach was all empty.</p>
<p>“Farah? Where are you?”, she heard the voice of her longtime friend Saul. “I’m here!”, she replied though her throat constricted due to the emotions she still experienced. She met him at the edge of the town, the surprise obviously shown in her face, mixed with a relief, while her friend had a shocked and horrified expression on his face that perfectly mirrored the one, she had not long ago herself. “Wha… What happened here? Farah please tell me that it’s not what it looks like?”. She saw the tears forming in his eyes, though he tried as hard as possible not to show how scared this all made him. “I. Rosalind told us that the city has been already evacuated. So we’ve combined our powers with hers and shot a lightning bolt at the village. I… I didn’t know Saul. You have to believe me please? I would have never helped her otherwise. Would have never done all this”, she wildly gestured to the houses behind her and took a small pause in her speech to look at her friend again.</p>
<p>This time she noticed however that something was seriously wrong with Silva. His shoulders sagged, although he overall stood straight and composed. Then there was the look in his eyes and the tension that gave away how he truly felt. The village behind couldn’t be the only reason he looks so miserable at the moment. Something else was clearly going on and Farah felt the dread creeping up on her that her friend brought only more bad news. Therefore, she cautiously asked him again “What happened Saul? I can tell that it’s not only the town that worries you so much. What is it? You know you can tell me everything”. At this the tears were now flowing freely across his face as he told his best friend what happened to Andreas.</p>
<p>After a few short minutes the two of them went back into Aster Dell to find Rosalind and Ben however they only found their male fairy friend with no trace of Farah’s mentor. They headed back to their place, they used to regroup after a mission to get cleaned up. The journey back was a silent and solemn one, everybody being shocked by the newest events that had just occurred. Once they arrived Saul excused himself mentioning how he had to look after Andreas’ son. Ben and Farah both sat quietly as they took care of their minor injuries, both too much lost in thought.</p>
<p>“I think we should bury them. I mean the villagers of Aster Dell. We… We just killed them all, committed mass murderer”, Ben visibly flinched at that, “It’s the least we can do. I think we owe it to them.” After a few seconds had passed by to meet Ben’s gaze, the latter now clearly fighting his inner turmoil. “You’re right we owe it to them. But I’m afraid of how long it’s going to take. I have a wife and two kids at home waiting for me, Terra she just a newborn.” He quickly swallowed the bile that has started to rise and took a deep breath before he continued. “I’m sorry Farah but I can’t. I want to do this but I’m afraid of Mary will react (I don’t know if they mentioned a name for the mother in the story, so I just picked one) and I’m…” “I get it Ben. It’s okay. I’ll” “No it’s not okay!”, he half screamed, leaving Farah a bit stunned at his sudden outburst. Ben has never been the one to openly so much of his feelings, especially the bad one’s. When somebody was around him he always put on happy expression and seemed so eager to socialize with them. The outburst that took place was surely a once in a lifetime event. “I should help you. I’m a coward not facing what I’ve done and it’s not fair of me to load this onto you. After everything you had to go through the past two”. He didn’t get to finish his last sentence. The look in Farah’s eyes held a threat in them with so much anger just for bringing the topic up that he shut his mouth before he could anything else. “I can do this on my own Ben. Go back to your family.” Farah walked towards the door and grabbed her key before leaving. “At least you still have family to get back to.”, she muttered so quietly that Ben would have missed it if not for the otherwise complete silence surrounding them.</p>
<p>She forced herself to stay composed until she got to her own place. It was a small apartment with a view onto the barrier. When she chose this place, the few neighbors Farah had told her to consider moving someplace else. The previous owner apparently turned insane from all the sounds coming out of the woods. The Burned One’s always were barbaric and the screams of the people caught in their claws could be heard from miles and miles away. But Farah didn’t care. She just needed to get out of her old place as soon as possible. No longer could she stay at her home. Her home that held some many memories, both good and bad.</p>
<p>Once she entered her apartment all of her belongings dropped unceremonially to the ground and Farah broke down. All the dead people. They were innocent as far as she knew. The guilt became so painful up to the point where it turned unbearable and she let out a frustrated, blood curling scream. All of her anger, fear and guilt bubbled up the surface and completely overwhelmed the poor woman. After a minute of screaming all of her frustration out Farah stood up and shakily got ready to make arrangements for the burying of Aster Dell’s citizens.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Shaking her head Farah came to realize that she had already arrived at the graves she put in place at the time. <em>How could I get so caught in daydreaming that I didn’t even notice arriving here</em>? Her thoughts about the fateful night plagued her like they always did whenever she paid a visit here. But this time things have changed at least a little. Ever since she learned the truth from Bloom about the true nature of Aster Dell’s citizens Farah felt conflicted. On the one hand she felt relieve that they didn’t have to encounter the blood witches at a later point, on the other hand she knew that nothing could justify all the deaths. Focusing on her emotions she concentrated until she felt the familiar flow of magic in her veins and allowed to smile a little to herself. She then continued to regrow the daisies on the graves and clean out the weed covering them. Once this was finished, she took her time with each grave individually. Praying for every life that was lost this day. The tears filled her eyes, threatening to spill any moment and she took in a shaky breath to control her emotions. It would do no good to lose control here out of all places.</p>
<p>The rustling of leaves could be heard not too far behind and Farah immediately knew that her old mentor wouldn’t make all the way just to pay her a social visit. Her out of all people. She quickly began to think of what to do and how to get out of here. Rosalind was always the stronger one when it came to magic and she knew that a battle would most likely be a lost cause. Suddenly the memory of a long-time acquaintance came to her mind. The other woman now prominent in her memories had origins in Aster Dell and only now Farah was able to connect all the dots. She used her magic to send a message to the other woman with her location and what to do. Finally turning around, she faced her mentor with an emotionless masc plastered across her face . When Rosalind gestured for her to take a seat next to her on the bench, a bench that she crafted with Ben’s help she complied for her own sake. They both knew that this meeting wouldn’t end well so Farah thought: <em>Why not get the old shag to spill some of her secrets just this once</em>.</p>
<p>She chose her words carefully around the other woman, aware that she most likely wouldn’t it make it away alive but at least she could spare her students, no they were Rosalind students now, to get onto the receiving end of her fury. Her own anger was another matter however. When the older woman rubbed under Farah’s nose how she gets to be headmistress now it took all of her self-restraint not to wrap her hands around her neck and squeeze tight. She might be in control of her emotions. She promised Rosalind to not leave the school to her without a fight before she stood up and turned around in what seemed to be an attempt to leave. Though she used the time to activate her magic and cast a spell over her own body, for preserving measures. Fighting her instincts that screamed at her to go and run, to try at least to escape Rosalind but Farah knew it was futile.</p>
<p>Instead she thought about all the times as a students, the time she met David, the time she graduated with her friends and love. All the good memories filled her with an indescribable feeling of happiness but also fear. A fear that she is never might never see any of them again if her plan fails. She could no longer feel her feet touching the ground and forced her eyes to focus onto the beautiful trees surrounding her, memorizing all the details of the beautiful forest. A lone tear spilled from the corner of her eye as she waited for Rosalind to finish it. <em>At least there are worse ways to die</em>, she thought before a sharp pain erupted in her neck, turning her vision black until she knew no more.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>This chapter is entirely from Farah's point of view. I really like as a character in the series. I know that the show isn't perfect but I like it so far. David is an OC that will appear more later in the story. The next chapter is most likely about Bloom. I hope you liked this chapter. Feel free to comment :-)</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Chapter 2</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Hope you'll like this one. Feel free to comment :-)</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>To say Bloom was anxious would have been the underestimation of the year. After everything that happened to the girl in the last half a year one might think the next step shouldn’t be too hard for her, considering everything she went through but for her it was one of the most important moments of her life. She was going to tell her parents the truth after all. The truth that she isn’t their biological daughter and the baby girl her mom gave birth to, and carried under her heart for 9 months, is dead and has been for 16 years. The truth about her whereabouts the past few months and who, or rather what she is. Bloom was sure her parents would have never agreed to send her to Alfea if they would have known the school as a place to learn magic.</p><p>The only thing they believed in, somewhat resembling magic was to knock on the wood. But out of all the ifs Bloom could only fathom about the answer to how her parents will react to the fact that she was the one to burn down the house and injuring her mom in the process of it. It was never her intention in the first place to light the house on fire, she didn’t even know she had magic yet, but wondering how her parents will react to it even if she tells them that it was never her intention to harm them scared her tremendously.</p><p>Luckily her friends went with her. Even if they couldn’t support her during the talk they could offer her assurances as well as comfort afterwards. They already did by keeping her spirit up before they got the house. Each of them had their own way to help her. Terra would chat her ears off until she’d fall asleep, the young earth fairy could always stay upbeat happy and it seemed to rub off a little on Bloom. Aisha would tell a story of how she had to admit to her parents the circumstances of why her whole school was suddenly flooded and why they had to wad through the poop. They all fell into a laugh after hearing Aisha’s attempt to cheer Bloom up. Musa would try to help the fire fairy by offering her happy and calm emotions from her own mind and load some of the worry onto herself. Her empath friend had certainly let go of her fear, partly at least, to feel the emotions of the people around her. Sam’s accident at the school, no matter how horrible it was for all of them, definitely helped her gain the necessary strength in that department.</p><p>But from her all her friends support it was surprisingly Stella who helped Bloom the most. Not to long ago both fairies literally hated each other guts. Stella was jealous of the almost instantaneous connection between her and Sky and Bloom got irritated and frustrated by Stella’s behavior around her. But as the time continued on they both recognized how much they actually have in common. Both girls never had the best relationship with their mothers. Stella because of the pressure Luna had put her under and Bloom because, well they were to completely different people to begin with. But both girls loved their parents nonetheless and would go above and beyond for their love and affection. Also both fairies have a troubled connection with their powers. Accidentally hurting somebody close to them never stood on their agenda and both had been afraid of their own powers at some point. They could relate the most with each other but having all four of them support her is what gave Bloom the final push.</p><p>Ringing the doorbell anxiously she waited for her parents to answer it. When the faces of the people she loved the most appeared in front of her it stole her breath for a second. She couldn’t believe that it actually happened. Today she was going to tell her parents the truth. The headmistress’ words resonated through her head again <em>It won’t be easy.</em> It most certainly wouldn’t be easy. That’s for sure.</p><p>The three of them sat down in the dining room and Bloom took a moment to collect her thoughts. <em>Remember the power comes from the emotions. The stronger the emotions the stronger the magic.</em> “Mom, dad what I have to tell will be shocking and you might not believe it at first but I love you guys no matter what and… I don’t know how to begin. There’s no easy way of saying this but do you remember the story around my birth?”. Her parents nodded a little irritated, to confused to ask what this was actually about they couldn’t form a word so Bloom swallowed the fear which started to rise in her and continued. “At school. At Alfea I found out that there has been a mistake, sort of. Around the time of my birth somebody swapped the babies, on purpose.” Her mothers eyes widened in horror and her father had a look of shock plastered on his face at her indications so she went on with her explanation before they could make wrong assumptions. “I found out during my time at the school that a woman called Rosalind found me and placed me here instead of your biological daughter who she knew would have died from the heart damage she had even before the birth and then made it look like I am your biological daughter. Your daughter. The one you gave birth to died 16 years ago.”.</p><p>At this point the tears were flowing freely on all their faces and Vanessa tried to hold back her sobs and failed. Her father was shaking his head in denial, looking down the ground with still the same expression as just a minute ago. Only this time the tears fell down and his hands were shaking so much, he pressed them between his knees in a poor attempt to stop the shaking. “Are you sure? Do you know for certain that this is the truth Bloom? Right now this all sounds like a complete nightmare instead of the truth.”. She looked up into her father’s eyes and had to hold in a sob herself. The raw emotions she saw completely overwhelmed her and all the pain Bloom felt weeks ago was now written across her parents faces. “I know this sounds awful dad and at first I couldn’t believe it myself but the headmistress confirm…” “The headmistress Bloom? Do you know how absurd this sounds? Why should a person who runs a school in Switzerland know anything about our family tree?”.</p><p>Vanessa’s question didn’t sound like a real question but more like an attempt to find out more about the why. Why should it be them out of all people? Why was somebody so cruel to take their child? Knowing her mom well enough she asked the question to find a weak point in Bloom’s story no matter how plausible. All the small details in her childhood like the heart damage Bloom miraculously got cured from. Her natural ginger hair none of her relatives seemed to have and then all the small differences in their personalities. Bloom knew it to be truth by now and she had to show her parents the same leading her to the even harder part of the story. “I know how absurd this all must sound but there is more to it than you know. It will make much more sense after I explained the rest. So please just hear me out okay? The truth is that Alfea isn’t a school in Switzerland. It is actually a school where people with magic, called fairies go to learn how to control their powers. Same reason I am there.”. She took a deep breath to collect herself as the fear rose once again and the hardest part had yet to come. “The truth is that the headmistress Ms. Dowling invited me to visit the school after she found out about my magic. Ever since the house burnt down, I went to the old factory near our house where I usually slept at night. I… I slept there because I felt guilty. Guilty because the fire started from my room and I couldn’t really explain what happened so when Ms. Dowling found me, she told me that it happened because I have magic. I am a fairy and first I thought the same as you probably do right now. But then she showed me her own magic and I was left dumbstruck. We talked for another two hours and she promised to teach me control of my powers, which is why she offered the scholarship at Alfea. I could go on about how it is actually in another realm and how there are several more but the important part is that my magic is too powerful to be from some lone fairy ancestor in my blood line, which led to the fact that I’m changeling.</p><p>A changeling is a fairy baby who gets swapped with a human one at birth. It… It’s barbaric I know that and it apparently didn’t happen in centuries but it’s the truth. I don’t know who my real parents are, though I tried to find out for months now and I don’t know what happened to your real daughter other than the heart failure:”. Looking up, Bloom dared to look into her parents eyes. Both had a wide-eyed look of fear clearly in them but she could still tell a difference between them. Her father’s eyes also held a certain edge to them as he was prepared for somebody to jump up and scare him half to death, making this whole ordeal a cruel joke. He was obviously still in denial and would need proof to accept it. But her mother on the other hand looked like she might collapse from the news. It began to overwhelm her, ready to bring the poor woman down, and Bloom knew she had to finish her story before her mother made up her mind entirely. Vanessa always had her own piece of mind and once she settled on a decision there was almost no coming back from it. Bloom’s heart hammered so wildly against her chest it might burst. Gathering all her courage she closed her eyes to feel for the all too familiar flow of magic running through her veins. How she never noticed before the accident was a mystery to Bloom.</p><p> </p><p>The moment her eyes opened they shone in a bright orange tone and out of her hands came the comforting flow of the heat that the flames emitted. Of course she could never get burned by her own fire powers but she could still feel the immense heat coming off them. The first few times it felt a little uncomfortable and Bloom spend a good amount of time sweating from it but by now the heat gave her an odd sense of comfort. She noticed her mother standing up from her stool and Bloom was about to run after when her dad interrupted by squeezing her hand slightly. He understood which comforted the young fairy immensely but there was still her mom to worry about. After she squeezed her father’s hand to say thank you, sort of, she talked to her mom who up until then hasn’t said or done anything else. They both talked in hushed voices. Breaking off at the end of their sentence from the emotions finally overwhelming them and then there was it. Vanessa hugged her daughter and Bloom couldn’t help but sag against her in relief. All the worries from the past few weeks now suddenly went out of the window and she couldn’t imagine to have any better parents in the world.</p><p>After the first shock settled they talked for another half an hour, mostly about Bloom’s life as a fairy and stories about her time in Alfea. They all took the strength from being around each other though none of them really felt good to begin with which made Bloom realize something else. Her parents were her parents in anything but blood and they truly were a family. Sure there have been times when fights broke out about all different kinds of topics but the love between her and her parents was so strong that she breathed freely for the first time in months. Ever since she found out about being a changeling, no ever since the accident Bloom had a heavy feeling of guilt and anxiety in her heart but now it all seemed to resolve and they all felt the shift between them. By the time the small family finished talking Bloom thought it to be a good idea to introduce her friends now to her parents. They saw them of course when they entered the house and would occasionally hear a thing or two about them on the phone but nothing more than that. She thought about it for a moment and then decided to have Aisha be first one to introduce to them. She was her roommate after and also the person who helped Bloom realize the truth being a changeling.</p><p>To say Aisha was nervous about talking to Bloom parents. The other girl was after all just as new to this situation as Bloom. Both girls had that in common but as it turned out it took them only a few seconds of small talk and Aisha to show her water magic for them to joke around as if they knew each other their whole life. Her father even told Aisha teasingly to come and visit more often now since her element was the opposites from Bloom which earned him a slight smack on the back of his head from Vanessa. It was lunch time and the family decided to order food take out due to the surprise visit from Bloom and her friends.</p><p>They all sat on the dining table retelling old and new stories alike. Most of them to tease the fire fairy, who went by the time lunch was over as red as a tomato in her face. “Oh and you should have seen Bloom that one time at Christmas. We had a large dinner prepared for that night and all our old friends came to finally meet Bloom. One of the guys I think snuck into the kitchen and got some of the food already and Bloom found him. What did he tell you again sweetheart?”. Her mother asked and the girl glared disbelievingly at her mother. They both remembered the story perfectly fine but Vanessa thought it to be funny to let her daughter say it. “Well he asked first what I was doing in the kitchen and I remembered mom saying the same thing to dad once so I questioned the same. He told me he was getting some snacks before dinner and asked what I like the most from it. So I replied how much I liked moms homemade cranberry sauce but I knew I wasn’t allowed to have it. But dads’ friend told me that I seemed like a big girl and big girls were apparently supposed to do what they think is right. He left the kitchen and I took the whole thing of cranberry sauce with me up to my room.” Her friends were having huge smiles on their faces and Bloom continued with a red face. “After a few bites I got bored however and wanted to bring it back but I got scared about punishment if they realized I took it, so I hid it under the couch. Ma and dad were both wondering were the box went the whole evening but they dismissed it and we watched a movie later. One of moms friend accidentally dropped her phone and it went down between the cushions of the couch and she bent down to grab it. It just happened that instead of her phone she found the box of cranberry sauce I hid earlier and caused it to spill all over the floor and onto her. Everyone was like really shocked for a second but then mom’s friend started laughing and joked how she might let it stay that way. The dress was white before and now had a huge stain on it. Later we took a photo with all of them and mom’s friend of course posed in front of all of us with a huge smile on her face. It’s still hanging on the wall by the way.”.</p><p>Musa was silently snickering and the other girls looked like they might burst any second from holding it in so long but before she got a chance to change the topic her parents did. “Well apart from this story Bloom has always such a well behaved little girl. We are so happy to meet all of you and just got one request alright? Make sure that one here also gets some fun. You can’t believe how often we told her to just go out and meet some people and maybe cause some trouble. We both got into lots of trouble as teenagers and it wouldn’t have mattered to us as long as she’s happy. I mean as long as it’s nothing to serious of course.”.</p><p>This time it was Stella to tell a story “Wait hold on a second! Bloom being a well-behaved kid?” Her parents now had an amused and questioning look on their face, begging their daughter’s friend to continue and so Stella did. “How often did you end up in trouble because you ignored the headmistress orders?” “Or the time you and Beatrix stole a car to take a ride?”, it was Terra now how chimed in with a seemingly teasing tone. The fire fairy however didn’t think of it to be funny and would have preferred to sink into the ground out of embarrassment. At times like this she wished to have Sam’s gift to walk through walls and stuff just to get out of the situation. She was about to put her hands over head when she felt somebody giving her a high five. She looked to see her mother wearing somewhat of a proud and smug expression on her face. “Why can’t you do some things like at home? Okay maybe not stealing a car”, everyone laughed for a second before Vanessa continued “but you know just do stuff out of your comfort zone. Don’t let me even begin with how often I told you to get out there and have some fun. It’s good you’re so happy at Alfea.”. Now it was Mike’s turn to add something “At the risk of sounding like an old man. We gonna leave you kids here a bit on your own. Just enjoy your time here and we’ll be in another room if you need anything. The girls all nodded and thanked the Peters before they started chatting amongst them.</p><p>Unbeknownst to the girls however the events at Alfea took a turn for the worst the very moment the Solarian army arrived. Saul got arrested and Sky couldn’t help but watch helplessly from aside as his only father figure was forced into one of the vehicles and out stepped another. He honestly didn’t know how to react, opting to run inside to call Bloom. However she didn’t answer her phone and Sky wandered around until the thought struck him to warn the others. He knew that Rosalind had escaped and Andreas suddenly showed up at Alfeas doorstep. They were out for revenge that much was obvious. He made a full-on sprint towards the Greenhouse, since it was the closest of his goals to warn Professor Harvey but the sight that greeted him told the specialist everything he needed to know.</p><p>The two men went into a short talk to update one another on the recent events and came to the same conclusion. They needed to warn Farah. As soon as possible. Ben retrieved his phone from his pocket and tried to call his friend. Multiple times. Meanwhile Sky started pacing around nervously but after few more attempts the professor, much to Sky’s dismay, gave up. “You can’t stop now Mr. Harvey. We both know that Ms. Dowling might be in danger. We need to do something. We need to...” “No Sky. I am sorry but I know Farah. She’s was never a big fan of the newest technologies, but she knew just as much as the rest of us the importance to always be available in case of a threat.”. “What aren’t you saying professor?”, the young man asked anxiously and Ben gulped before replying “What I was trying to say that if Farah isn’t answering any calls or texts we might be already to late. I… I think she’s already dead. I can’t say for sure but I know her well enough to recognize when something is seriously wrong. I am so sorry Sky.”.</p><p> </p><p>Ben turned around to look at his first born who was still recovering from the injury, inflicted by the Burned One. The boy had a disbelieving expression while Sky’s resembled more fury. He couldn’t believe it. After all this time being a soldier, he knew the risk they lived with on a daily basis but from his group everyone always thought of Farah to be one to outlive all of them. The mind fairy was the strongest he had ever met in his life. Most people would likely disagree though and instead suggest Rosalind to be the strongest which might be true in a certain way, but Ben knew his longtime friend well enough. In comparison to Farah, Rosalind always honed her skills to the fullest, breaking any barriers your instincts throw at you. Begging a person to stop for their own safety but Rosalind didn’t care and pushed past those barriers on a regular basis, making her indeed stronger than Farah but only because his friend was too afraid to go beyond those limits. All he could do now was hope that their help wouldn’t be too late.</p><p>At the same time in the first world the winx got ready to get back to Alfea after a short weekend of lots of fun and talking at the Peter’s. When everyone was ready, they said goodbye to Bloom’s parents, unaware that the next time they will meet is going to be under entirely different circumstances. Their banter was carefree and full of trust. Each of them telling stories to the people they were able to trust their lifes with. Unfortunately it all came to an abrupt halt the moment they noticed three figures standing in front of them and one thing was for sure. Having the queen of Solaria, Rosalind and a man who looked awfully lot like Sky at the school was meant to be a lot of trouble.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>So... A lot of things are bound to happen and I can't wait to finish the next chapter.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Chapter 3</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>This chapter is a little longer than the last one. I probably won't be able to update next week because we got a huge chunk of homework to complete for college. There is a minor character death. It's not detailed or anything but I'll highlight it with two black lines in case you want to skip it.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p><em>Crash…</em> The sound of a cup hitting the ground shook her from her daydream. <em>Did she imagine this?</em> No matter how much she doubted it her dept goes back two decades. Hurrying towards the garage she opened the rusty lock in the front and went all the way through to the back where the hidden space was. She wasn’t the type for keepsakes but nowadays everybody who could afford a car got one. Living this lonely out in the woods, only to visit a small village once a month to buy any necessities the woman cut herself of from any form of social interactions. The only living being to keep her company was a stray dog she found out in the woods, hunting for food. The poor thing was probably abandoned because he lost an eye which led to him being adopted by the woman. There were often times, when she would try to brush him or just pet him but the dog would duck away from the touch. The thoughts of what could happen to an innocent life like her little friend to have him shy away everytime she wants to touch him.</p><p>As she shoved the shelf out her way her promise to her mother struck again. These last painful words of goodbye certainly came to soon thus she kept her promise even more so in fear of ruining the last memory she had of her left: A long time ago the young Latina and her mother fled from their home when she was just a little girl. <em>You can never show your abilities Lucerna or they will kill the both of us. NO matter what happens okay? Promise you’ll never show them to anybody!</em> Her mother’s words resonated through her head, making her feel guilty for what she was about to do. Breaking the promise to her mother was something she never planned on doing but now there wasn’t much of a choice left.</p><p>She started panting as she had to use all of her weight to push against the heavy shelf. <em>Why did I have to put the heaviest out all my furniture pieces on top it again? </em>This sudden thought hit her so unexpected she held back a small laughter, bubbling up in the back of her throat as she tried to remember her encounter with her friend, no they weren’t technically friends, her ally on that fateful day 20ish years ago when the two woman crossed paths for the first time, well she was a teenager back then who went through a market in the capitol of Solaria with her mum.</p><p>They were depriven of any sleep and most food from their endless run. On their journey to the town, they encountered some bandits who took advantage of lone travelers like them. During these uncertain times the Solarian army was too occupied with the fight against the Burned Ones to spare any more soldiers than necessary for petty things like patrols so when they encountered the thieves, both women knew there was only a limited number of choices how to escape. Her mother used some of the magic she learned a long time ago to secretly cause the men to stumble and fall to the ground when they pursued them.</p><p>Back at the capitol they browsed the alleyways when Lucerna saw the same men they tried to run away from not to long ago. Quickly grabbing her mother’s elbow despite the older woman’s protest she turned around into the next alley available in hopes of throwing the men of their tracks, but no such luck. After another two quick turns they hit a dead end with the men hot on their heels. Seeing no other way to get out of the situation alive Lucerna’s mother made the girl promise to not use her magic on them before meeting the men halfway “Please whatever you think of doing just spare my daughter. She’s an innocent child. I am begging you have mercy with her. Whatever you want, take it, but please don’t harm my only child”, the desperate tone was so unlike her mother that the teenager considered to go, screw the promise she just made and fight them off but a promise to her mother was sacred to her. Ultimately, she decided to keep the promise and watched with fearful eyes behind one of the trashcans how these filthy street rats descended towards her mother.</p><p>“Give us all the valuables you have and we might consider to leave but if you don’t…”, the man who was obviously the leader turned around to his fellow thieves. All of them had worn down clothes which smelled a lot like rotten fish. The leader was standing about two feet in front of his fellow men but in comparison to them he looked almost healthy. She was pretty sure that this man would hoard most of the winnings for himself while the others were obviously malnourished. Most of them looked like they didn’t have a proper meal in months, maybe even years and Lucerna felt a little sorry for them. Having almost no other choice but to steal from people is truly not a nice way to live but at least they would survive. The chances of finding a good job these days were slim and the need for one was high, but she figured it was still no excuse to threaten innocents like them. They had run away from their home village a long time ago due to the horrible practices these villagers used.</p><hr/><p>“We don’t have anything which is why we ran away from you guys in the first place. The only valuable thing I’ve got is this bracelet. I hope it will be enough”, the girl watched with wide eyes as her mother handed over the only thing left from home. It was a present from her father who died not to long before they made the daring escape. The man snatched it away to get a better look at it. The bracelet was made out of the finest metals with carvings, representing important events in their life. She watched the man’s subtle smirk turn into a malicious grin which made her blood turn to ice and all the color drained from her face. Something terrible was bound to happen which, by the looks of it her mother recognized too but before any of them could make a move the man unsheathed a dagger hidden in the back of his belt and ran it through her mother’s heart.</p><p>She heard blood curling screams and flinched a little when she realized they came from herself. Running towards her mother she took the lifeless body in her arms, rocking her back and forth while pleading with her mother to wake up. Her beloved mother who was her one and only, her whole world was lying now in her arms, eyes closed. The face was contorted in a pained expression which didn’t sit well with Lucerna. Though her mother died a short death it was nonetheless extremely painful. Her sobs and pleas resonated through the alley, probably informing bystander of what is occurring but most of them were too scared to interfere anyways and those would be brave enough couldn’t possibly stand a chance against the massive number of thieves. Her mother was dead and she came to the realization she was about to join her. There was no escape, no hope left for the young girl. She hardly noticed how the men all came a little closer, still too shaken by her grief, and she didn’t notice how the leader raised his dagger again, ready to stab her as well when another voice resonated through the alley.</p><hr/><p>“I wouldn’t do that if I were you.” Standing a few feet away from the thieves was a young woman in her early to mid twenties. Her blond hair cascaded down in light curls, framing her face on both sides. She was definitely lean and muscular, if her clothes gave any indications, but the biggest give away was the authority laced in every inch of her. The Blonde held a posture, battle ready like only the bravest of Solaria’s soldiers and a confidence making Lucerna doubt her earlier thoughts. The odds still weren’t looking good but something about this other woman made hope blossom up inside of her. The other woman had a natural beauty Lucerna never saw before. Sure, she wasn’t ugly herself but there was no way she could match this kind of beauty. Still caught up in her thoughts she didn’t notice how the other woman approached the men now. “… She’s just a girl. Let her go and nobody has to get hurt.”</p><p>However instead of doing so the leader laughed at the other woman before replying “Why should I listen to you? Huh… You’re nothing but a pretty face using some big words to buy herself and the girly out of the situation but not with me. Leave now or you’ll be next”. The other woman didn’t do as asked and opted to clean her nails instead as an obvious sign of boredom. The men around her took out her their weapons which would have made most people comply but the blonde just tapped her foot on the floor impatiently to aggravate them even further which seemed to do the trick.</p><p>Because the leader apparently had enough and thus ordered his men to attack the woman.</p><p>However she stood completely still and Lucerna silently wondered if the other lady was maybe mental. They were running towards her, weapons drawn but yet she just closed her eyes. The most surprising thing however happened when the woman in question opened her eyes again but instead of their usual brown, they shone a bright silvery tone. Everything that followed the next moments was a blur to her. One second the men were on full launch attack and the next they sailed through the air like a cannon ball, before crashing against the walls. Her mouth dropped down all the way to the floor. Surely this couldn’t be possible. No fairy Lucerna ever heard of possessed this kind of power and could also access it with practiced ease. Shakingly she made her way towards the Blonde, whose eyes regained their usual brown and shifted all her attention towards the teenager.</p><p>“Thank you so much. I don’t know what would have happened. I mean what else would have happened if not for you. There’s no way I could repay you for this.”, she looked into her eyes and was surprised by what she saw. The Blonde’s eyes didn’t seem to hold any resentment or so along the line. She was confused!</p><p>“Why would you want to repay me for my help? All of I’ve done is throw some filthy thieves through the air. It’s really no big deal. What your name?”. Too stunned for a moment to form a coherent response Lucerna just stared at the woman across her. No big deal? No big f****g deal?? The display of magic just a minute ago was nothing short of true mastery. “Hello? I um asked you for your name. I mean it’s okay if you don’t want to tell me. Totally get that but it would be nice if I could call you something other than girl”</p><p>“My name is Lucerna. And this woman over there”, she gestured behind her, “is my mother.”</p><p>“Hi Lucerna, it’s a pleasure to meet you despite the circumstances. I am Farah. How about we go someplace else to talk rather than this alley. We can get a warm meal someplace if you want too?”</p><p>Maybe, just maybe her mother was a tiny bit wrong and not everybody would try to harm her. Take Farah for example, who stood up against the thieves although she could have turned her back and pretended it never happened. Thus she agreed and the two talked another few hours which led Lucerna to trust her, despite the short span of time, and vowed to always come to help Farah if needed.</p><p> </p><p>Heaving out a sigh due to exhaustion the woman, who was now in her mid to late thirties continued to grab the wooden tiles that blocked her access and removed them in one rapid motion. Like a band aid being ripped off a wound. She wasted no time to get the necessary things hidden underneath the floor. A few vials that seemed to glow a goldish tint when held against the sun light. The vials were some of her most treasured possessions given to her by the mind fairy she met a long time ago. Of course Farah wouldn’t be naïve and give such important things to Lucerna right after they met. It was a few years after their paths crossed the first time when the two women met again.</p><p>Only this time the light in Farah’s eyes was completely gone, betraying the broken and shattered soul hidden behind those pained eyes. Back then she helped the Blonde one time and one thing leading to another, Farah trusted the young Latina enough to give her a part of her own life essence. Contained in a small vial it was hidden underneath the rusty car for a long time. Lucerna hoped that the long time wouldn’t have any negative side effects once used on a person. It was common knowledge how a potion that has been in storage for too long could suddenly go bad, like food past its expiration date, and she wasn’t sure if the same goes for the life essence of somebody.</p><p>Nonetheless she grabbed the backpack to her left and stashed it with some old papers and other things to soften the surroundings of the important vials. The last thing she needed were it for them to break inside the backpack because she wasn’t careful enough. Finally, everything was set and Lucerna got into her car without bothering to close the door to her house. It was too deep in the woods, where nobody would come looking and especially now she couldn’t waste time onto petty issues like locking a door that didn’t necessarily needed locking.</p><p> </p><p>Meanwhile Bloom and her friends came to a halt at Alfea’s gates. All of them had a look of confusion on their face, though Stella’s seemed to be resembling more fear while Bloom’s expression changed from confusion to masked indifference within a split second. Something was seriously wrong. For once it was fairly obvious that Queen Luna, who looked really pissed at the moment, wouldn’t bother to show up at Alfea if not for a good reason. The person on the very right was the only person Bloom couldn’t quite recognize though his face seemed awfully familiar, making the dread creeping up her neck unvoluntary. However out of all the surprises the woman in the middle stood out the most to her. The other girls, who haven’t met her yet didn’t know of course but Bloom did. During her last conversation with Ms. Dowling, Bloom had come to realize what a dangerous and manipulative person Rosalind actually is. She also knew that there was no good way in which Dowling would allow her old mentor to roam the school grounds so freely meaning Rosalind had most likely done something to their headmistress. She walked up to the group of three, the other girls falling in behind her, Bloom stopped a foot away from the woman in the middle. On the inside she still felt the dread coming, but had it covered up on the outside with a mask of faked surprise.</p><p>“Queen Luna, Rosalind. I am afraid we don’t quite understand. The… I am sure there must be a good reason for both of you to be here right? What is going on?”, her slightly wavering voice matched the expression on her face perfectly and only somebody who knew her for a long time could tell whether it was real or not. She took the short amount of time Rosalind needed to answer to get a better look at the man to her right. His clothes and weapons were obviously that of a specialist. The light blond hair and his face matched with the one person Bloom liked so much. The question was: Did he know? Did he know already that his father is here, alive, at Alfea?</p><p>“Everything will be explained later during the assembly Bloom. For now, I want you and the other girls to back to your suit. The assembly starts in an hour so you lot better not waste too much time wandering around.” It was obviously more of a demand, a hidden threat, than the actual request the older woman concealed it as. Therefore, Bloom nodded quickly as a reply before she looked to her friends to signal the other girls they were leaving.</p><p>On their way to the entrance she noticed Beatrice standing of to the side with Dane and Riven, who must have gone back to trailing behind the air fairy. Both guys had the same air of confidence surrounding them that also went with Beatrix and Bloom instantly knew not to trust any of them. It was too obvious to not notice their involvement in the whole mess. Not too long ago Beatrix has been imprisoned for the murder of Callum. While it might be Bloom’s fault in the first place that she got out of her cell there was no way in which a murderer would be allowed to walk the school grounds freely if all things were just peachy. She made a beeline for the entrance, the other girls hot on her heels, in hopes of getting away from a possible conversation with the crazy girl and her two lackeys, after their last encounter in which the winx shoved Beatrix to spring the trap there were going to be some hard feelings for sure and Bloom could go another day or two at least without being confronted. They made it to the suit without further complications, all of them letting their shoulders sag in relief but the sight they were greeted with took all of them by surprise.</p><p>In the middle of their living space were three men waiting anxiously for their return. Ben was sitting on the couch, cleaning his glasses in the nervous habit he picked up many years ago. Next to him was Sam who bounced his feet on and off the ground for the same reason. The last one Bloom registered was Sky who was pacing, head downcast, from one end of the room to another.</p><p>However, they didn’t have more time to get a closer look at the three as the door closed with a bit more force than necessary, startling all three of them out of whatever they must have been thinking about.</p><p>Terra was the first to shake herself out of the initial shock and met her brother and father in the middle of the room, the other winx only a second behind her. “Dad, Sam. Why’s Queen Luna here? And is the older lady with her really Rosalind? I mean if that’s her and she’s here what’s that going to mean for …”, she was interrupted by her father before she could go on and loose herself in thought too much. Terra was always a person to cover up any feelings by nervously ranting thus the interruption.</p><p>“Sweetness. There are so many things going on right now and I can’t explain them all right now. We’ll talk some more later, okay? Promise. For now you must know that Queen Luna and Rosalind are working together, on what or why that I don’t know yet. But whatever you lot do I must ask you to be careful around all three of them. The man you probably saw with them is Andreas, Sky’s father”, their wide-eyed expression simultaneously shot up to meet Sky’s who hasn’t said or done anything so far besides stopping the pacing. Mr. Harvey confirmed any suspicions, Bloom had earlier when they met the three adults. However, feeling her assumptions confirmed made it only harder. She hasn’t seen or heard anything from their two headmasters yet and both wouldn’t be the type to sit around quietly, but before Bloom could voice her concerns somebody else had already beat her to it.</p><p>“Mr Harvey. Excuse but it seems to me that neither headmistress Dowling nor headmaster Silva are anywhere to be found. Will they be at the assembly too? I don’t know Rosalind and have only heard stories about Sky’s father, but my mother wouldn’t do anything wrong. Sure, she’s anything but a lovely person but she wouldn’t commit a crime, right?” Stella’s questions reflected what everybody, except Ben, in this room thought, at least at one point. They knew, Rosalind would be up to no good and Andreas was basically a wild card, but Stella’s mom is the queen of Solaria and none of the kids wanted to believe how she could be involved in their schemes.</p><p>“I don’t think your mother is evil Stella. God no, but I also know that Luna hated Farah’s guts for a long time and would probably take the first chance she gets to rid herself of the problem.”</p><p>“But what does that mean for Ms. Dowling and Mr. Silva? After the accident with Ricki I was scared of what would happen if I loose control again and then mom sent me back to the school to repeat the first year. It might have been a slow progress, but it worked, and I don’t want to learn magic from my mom again. Please tell me they’re here somewhere!”, Stella’s plead resonated through the room and everybody looked now up to their teacher who hasn’t said a word yet on that matter. Knowing things would get only more complicated if he answered the question Ben tried to find a way around but Stella was having any of it and now all the girls waited for him to answer.</p><p>But surprisingly it was Sky who answered: “They’re not here Stel. A few hours ago, when the Solarians arrived, they arrested Saul for the attempted murder of my dad. I tried to call all of you but nobody bloody answered so I tried to warn Mr. Harvey but he already knew. We talked and came to the conclusion that we had warn Ms. Dowling too, but we couldn’t get through on her phone. We don’t know what happened to her and honestly don’t have the time or the right location to discuss this. We need to talk later because the assembly starts in 5 minutes.” With that being said Sky stormed out of the room without sparing anybody a last glance, not even Bloom.</p><p>After another second everybody followed the young specialist to the main hall where most people already found a place to sit. Bloom’s confusion about Sky’s reaction must have shown because Sam decided to use the situation to approach her quickly. “You have to understand Bloom. Sometime after the last Burned One’s, supposedly last Burned One’s, have been defeated our mom died due to some illness. I’ve got a memory or two left, since I’m the older kid, but Terra… She never really got know our mom and Sky lived through a similar situation except his mom died after a Burned One attacked. Ever since that happened, we’ve all been raised here at Alfea and the only mother figure we ever had was Farah. She is like a mom to us in anything but blood and now since we don’t really know what happened to her… He misses her like crazy. We all do.”</p><p>The young earth fairy left it that and they dispersed into the crowd to find some remaining seats left, while Stella went to the front row and Mr. Harvey stood in the back with all the other teachers. The loud banter of anxious students filled the room with so much noise the girls didn’t have to worry about being heard by the wrong people and discussed their next course of action. They quickly agreed to meet outside by the ponds, where the specialists train, at midnight. Now all they needed to do was inform the others after the assembly.</p><p>They noticed Queen Luna walking towards the podium to give her speech with Rosalind to her right and Andreas to her left. Their overconfidence on the matter, while still concealed to most people, made Bloom feel a little sick. If Rosalind was standing with such a smug expression in the front something must have happened. The bile that started to rise when the three made their way towards the podium wouldn’t quite settle, no matter how long Bloom tried to shake of the feeling. She shifted in her seat, driven by her discomfort to ease the feeling, when she felt Terra squeeze her shoulder. Everything was going to be right. They were going to find a way to set the things they’ve done wrong, the moment the two prisoners were freed, back to normal. The guilty feeling however wouldn’t settle down, no shifting and no gestures from her friends could change it.</p><p>Once the Queen dimmed the lights all the student’s attention went to the three people in the front and the whole room went quite in an instant. Most of them didn’t recognize the people on the right and left side but everyone knew the Queen of Solaria. “Good afternoon. I am here to announce that there will be a few changes for Alfea in the future due to some recent events. It wasn’t too long ago that the school has been attacked by several Burned One’s and I am sure most of you still remember that horrible day well. The reason why they were able to infiltrate the barrier and thus the schoolground is that somebody, we are currently investigating the matter, manipulated the power that holds up the barrier and the electricity of this place at the circle of stones. Rest assured that the guilty person will soon be found. I have ordered some of the finest battalions of my army to guard the circle of stones at all times, so it won’t happen again.”, she took a small pause in her speech to look into the crowd and give the students a moment to process the gravity of her statement.</p><p>“Due to this unfortunate event, I have also come to the realization that the school was immensely ill prepared for such a situation which forced me to take action on that matter and find somebody more competent to prepare the school for any further incidents. I don’t want to you to fall to wrong allusions that everything is going to be fine, now the Burned One’s have been defeated. The horrible truth is: We don’t know if it will the last time they attacked and how many more are out there. You need to be prepared in the best way possible. We’re officially at war and until all of the creatures have been defeated, you’ll be trained for combat and combat only. Therefore, I am glad to announce that the role of leadership falls to no other than Rosalind, now reinstated headmistress of Alfea and Andreas of Eraklyon as the headmaster and trainer for the specialists. For now I think it’s time they are welcomed back to Alfea and I am sure they have a few words prepared for you to hear.”, as on cue the Queen took a couple of steps behind, letting the two new headmasters give a short speech of introductions, about their goals and what happened to their former headmasters. When Rosalind mentioned how Farah would be taking a sabbatical to the mountains where she wouldn’t be available to any calls, Bloom didn’t believe an ounce of what the woman in the front said. Something was seriously wrong and they had to find out soon before it was. God, Bloom hoped they could still turn the tides.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>And another OC... Lucerna is definetely going to be important. Also I've seen questions about my other OC David but we'll have to wait a bit longer for him to make an appearance. ;-)</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. Chapter 4</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>The date our homework at college is due got postponed so I've got a little air to breath. Yay... I'll try to update once a week but cannot promise anything</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“Wake up prisoner. It’s breakfast time”, the loud banging on his door resonated across the walls as Saul slowly got up from the horrible excuse of a bed. Clearly the Solarians didn’t care if their prisoners died from excruciating back pain. The cell was a simple 2x2x3 with only a small opening for air, not even big enough to fit someone’s hand through. Somebody opened the little lit on his door and placed his meal in it. Not wasting another second the man quickly grabbed the meal before the guards could change their minds. Who knew maybe the guards would love to torment them by taking away the meals right from under their nose? Starvation is after all an effective torture method that found usage for centuries. People were so driven by their hunger, with the nagging feeling in the pit of the stomach which would easily override any remorse these men and women might have felt at some point. Unfortunately for Saul he found out quickly why the guards wouldn’t go for this method. The food wasn’t edible at all, if you could call a greyish tinted substance, which possibly was a soup in another lifetime, with a piece of bread resembling rather the stony walls of their prison than anything else, food. He halfheartedly threw the plate on the ground, disgusted by not only the food but also the recent events.</p><p>Andreas for example, his best friend for a lifetime, he thought the other man was killed during their small battle. After all, Saul’s sword went through his abdomen, a fatal injury under normal circumstances and the other specialist had been too much in a rush to bother checking if the job was done. He clearly must have had help from somebody, most likely a fairy. Somebody except Rosalind, who was too busy setting up the two girls she found that day into their new homes.</p><p>It didn’t matter now for him as the door slid open, revealing four armed guards, quickly surrounding him before they cuffed both his hands and feet into locks. <em>As if I’d try to escape… As if I could escape, even if I wanted to</em>. He chuckled a humorless laugh. The situation felt a little ironic to him because he knew there was no way in which he could put a fight, big enough to escape at least on his own and yet these men treated him right now like the most dangerous being in their entire building.</p><p>To his disadvantage one of the guards misjudged his laugh as an attempt to humiliate them, resulting in a fist punch into his stomach, sending Saul nearly doubling over in pain if it not for his specialist training. But before said guard could land another punch he got intercepted and only a few seconds later they reached their destination. The room held a simple desk with a chair on opposite sides each and one of the larger sides was a glassed front. <em>Interrogation room,</em> he thought amused. <em>This is going to get interesting.</em> On the other side, opposite the mirrored wall were two tables set up with all kinds of tools. Tools in case he didn’t comply, but Saul wouldn’t give in too easy. Of course, certain things he’d rather say aloud instead of risking injuries done to him, but if they asked personal or sensitive information, they would soon find out what it means to have prisoner as stubborn and unyielding as him.</p><p>The interrogation started with a few simple answers to test him. Like his name, birthday and stuff. Truly nothing to worry about, especially because they probably had the information already anyway and it wouldn’t do any good to aggravate his captors. As the time went on, Saul found himself rather bored. All the questions they could get them more easily from other sources than him and he did his best to stifle a yawn which made its way up the throat. He shifted a little in his seat before one question caught his attention finally:</p><p>What happened at Aster Dell? Why did he attempt to murder Andreas?</p><p>Truth to be told, Saul didn’t know how to react at first, the memories brought back by their questioning roamed his mind for a few seconds. His encounter with Andreas, the fight, finding out he was too late to stop the assault, seeing Ben and Farah walk the streets of the town from afar, the latter of the two clutching her chest, heaving in obvious discomfort before the two met outside the edge of the village. He shook his head vigorously, in an effort to clear his head from the oncoming wave of emotions, before answering everything to the best of his abilities. He told them how Andreas tried to stop him from warning Ben and Farah and how he tried to persuade his friend into helping him. However instead of being pleased the interrogator looked downright furious. They have most likely been fed lies about the situation, probably by Andreas himself. They asked him again, but Saul stayed true to his earlier statement.</p><p>From the corner of his eye, he noticed one guard moving towards the tables behind Saul. It was only a matter of time now before they’d start the real interrogation. However instead of following the guard with his focus he stared right into the man’s eyes opposite him. It wouldn’t do him any favors now to show fear or any other emotion along the line. These men thrive on the fear and pain of the people they torture, and Saul would be damned if he gave them the same satisfaction of success too. The guard in question suddenly stood behind him which brought his thoughts back to the here and now. They placed a blindfold over his eyes and shoved him into another room he didn’t know before.</p><p>In an instant they forced him to kneel down, pushing his head down with force and only Saul’s training saved him from taking in a surprised breath. It could have turned fatal for him to take in a breath when they pushed his head underwater. Knowing what was to come next, his muscles involuntary tensed before the sparks of electricity shot through his body, making him tremble before they finally pulled him out. The guards repeated the procedure a few more times, demanding answers to their earlier questions about Aster Dell but Saul wouldn’t budge. Eventually they put an end to it and the specialist held his breath in panicked anticipation. Just because they stopped electrocuting him didn’t mean they stopped the interrogation entirely. Unfortunately, his instincts proved him right yet again when the interrogator started kicking at his chest everytime they thought he lied.</p><p><em>Crack…</em> The sound of his ribs breaking one by one made Saul a little sick, but he nonetheless remained composed except the occasional grunt due to the pain, even when they threw him across the room. Nobody was immune against feeling pain, so the best option was to rather control how you showed it instead of trying to suppress it completely.</p><p>After another half an hour of interrogation they seemed to have given up, realizing it was going to be fruitless to continue and dragged, half carried him through the hallways back to his holding cell. <em>Home sweet home,</em> Saul thought bitterly as the door closed with a loud noise, leaving the specialist alone with his depressing thoughts for the first time in hours. Attempting to regain his bearings, his inner soldier tried to find some sort of orientation of how much time has passed since he left his cell in the morning. The small air opening provided him with a few rays of sunshine making him sigh. He had been in there for half a day before the stupid interrogator decided it was a waste of time. Hopefully though they wouldn’t try to continue first thing in the morning. Saul wasn’t the morning type of person.</p><p>The moment he tried to sit up the pain in his torso send him wheezing and cursing. The specialist was mostly unconscious when the guards carried him back to the cell and therefore didn’t feel most of his injuries but now the full extent of his injuries brought him back to reality, harsh. His only hope now was that Ben and Farah would be better of than him. Realizing the mistake, his thoughts turned from somber to absolute horror in the blink of an eye. If they arrested him there was going to be no good way in which his closest friends would leave the situation unharmed. He didn’t even realize what he was doing until the curses have long left his mouth for the umpteenth time today.</p><p>Ben would probably be observed like a hawk watching its prey. There was nothing they could arrest the earth fairy for, except Aster Dell maybe but they didn’t have enough proof of his involvement and they wouldn’t go as low as killing him. The man had two children attending Alfea and while they wouldn’t allow him to do any funny business, they couldn’t harm him really without at least his children noticing. He remembered all the times Ben would fuss over any injuries they sustained, may it be during one of Rosalind’s crucial training exercises or in a real fight There were always enough chances to get yourself bruised, especially as a soldier.</p><p>
  <em>“I swear to god if you don’t stop moving this instant Saul Silva, I am going to murder you myself”, however instead of doing as his friend demanded, the man in question shook in laughter for a bit as he sat on the table in the greenhouse. Today wouldn’t have been anything noteworthy but the fourth year specialist decided it would be a good thing to announce his relationship with their beautiful mind fairy friend. The two of them kept everything silent around their relationship, only letting their close circle of friends, Ben, Andreas, David, Rose and Mary know, but after hiding it for 6 months the couple eventually grew tired of it and announced it. Sadly, they didn’t have the sour mood of Farah’s mentor on their list of things and the headmistress took the news as a silent act of betrayal. She thought Farah to be like herself, in all matters, but apparently the young woman thought otherwise and the result showed during their training session later. Instead of fighting Burned One’s in a simulation the two of them had to fight Rosalind in a 2 vs 1. Long story short: Saul ended up being thrown into the very end of the ponds and it was only due to his girlfriend that he survived at all. Rosalind didn’t give a damn whether the young specialist survived or not, quite the opposite. The headmistress always had a close eye on the boys of their group, the disgust rolling of the older woman in waves, as if they’d do something to ruin her star pupil. It wasn’t only Saul who received the odd stares. While Andreas was mostly spared, due to his title, David and Saul had to endure her wrath even more. It felt like their headmistress couldn’t decide which boy to loath more and the specialist and fairy came to accept the treatment over the years. They’ve been on the receiving end of their headmistress fury for the reminder of the year, until it was time for their graduation. The couple had fought a lot lately, despite the obvious love between the two, but the topic that slowly drove them apart couldn’t just be dismissed as nothing. Farah wanted children, a family at some point. Maybe not right away but clearly at some point, while Saul couldn’t disagree more. The young man only thought about one thing: To enjoy his life to the fullest without having to consider a child’s needs at every turn. </em>
</p><p>
  <em>The irony, that in the end it was Saul who raised a kid, namely Sky, while Farah had no child to take care of as her own, wasn’t lost on them as they slowly rebuild their friendship to the point it was, shortly before he got arrested.</em>
</p><p>Farah… His heartbeat skyrocketed at the prospect of her smile. The way it has been in old times, free of all the burden Rosalind had placed on them, free of the constant fear and worry for Alfea and its students. The way her face lit up when the group of seven, now only group of three, would sneak around the school, ready to cause mischief. None of them had ever been the biggest fan of Rosalind’s methods and they did anything to annoy the older woman without raising suspicion to themselves. Most of the times it took a lot of convincing for her, or Mary, to join the others but Farah’s great control over magic certainly helped on numerous events as she saved them from being caught more times he could remember. Or the triumphant grin on her face, when she beat either Saul or Andreas in combat. She might be a fairy and didn’t need to fight the way the specialists did, but it didn’t stop her from kicking their asses repeatedly and as the time passed on in Alfea, both men had found themselves with their buts in deep mud or tumbling from the fighting stage more often than not.</p><p>Saul knew there was going to be no way in which Rosalind would let Farah survive if she wanted Alfea back, which he was certain she did. He just hoped that whatever things their former mentor had planned, Farah would find a way to counter it before it was too late. He had to because Saul couldn’t imagine living in a world without his closest friend, his bonded fairy. He couldn’t imagine living in a world without Farah Dowling in it.</p><p>
  <em>The map was sprawled across the table while the three friends anxiously waited for news from the battalion. They knew Saul didn’t have much time left, his eyes already rimmed with black lines that spread all across his upper body now. “We’ll have it circled by the morning”, Marco said, but time was nearly running out. When the assigned specialists hung up on them Farah immediately wanted to call back but Saul’s soft touch on the back of her hand stopped her from dialing the number. The mind fairy grew more and more worried as the night wore on. It showed in the rapid change of pace every few seconds, it showed in the way her breath became quick and erratic only to force it back to normal a few second later and it also showed in the way her head hung down in defeat. Saul and Ben are her best friends and the only people left to her.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>‘If one of them died’, she didn’t dare finishing the thought as she rambled on to her friends “We should be out there with them Saul”. </em>
</p><p>
  <em>Surprisingly it was Ben who answered her “Well, we have decided to teach the next generation.” No matter how true this was, Farah couldn’t bring herself to calm down. The new wave of emotions now threatened to overwhelm again and she couldn’t stop it no matter how hard she tried. She couldn’t live on without her best friend. She wouldn’t.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“We’ve taught them everything we can Farah. It’s up to them now.”, Saul chimed in. Of course they did, but it wouldn’t keep her from worrying and she didn’t show worry so out in the open. She never did because if that were the case her students wouldn’t get the strength, they desperately seek from her. Projecting strength had become her mantra, her mission as a figurehead, for the young minds roaming the schoolgrounds every year. She wouldn’t allow herself to spread insecurity onto her students through her own. Over the years the mantra slowly turned from a daily glamour, how she appeared to the students, into a part of who she is today. If she thought hard, Farah couldn’t remember when the shift happened, but it definitely rubbed of onto private conversations, which didn’t go unnoticed by her two friends.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>It took all of her self-implied control to not lash out on her friends as she voiced her next thoughts “They don’t know what they’re up against but we do.” Sparring a glance to both the earth fairy and the specialist they didn’t look surprised or anything, only defeated. It wasn’t just any rambling coming out of Farah. They knew it was the truth. As the time passed on the trio talked each other out of the nervousness they all felt since the whole ordeal started, occasionally laughing at the memory this place held for them when the phone suddenly rang. </em>
</p><p>
  <em>Not wasting another second all three bolted out of their position, eager to hear the news but the happiness soon turned into horror. Not only are there clearly more than one Burned One out in the woods but the time to find the One that scratched Silva had almost run out. It was too late for them to send out another search party. The group silently dispersed from the table they have crowded for several hours and all the fear each of them forced down earlier invaded their thoughts all over again. </em>
</p><p>
  <em>Saul looked up to see Ben with tears in his eyes, barely held back for his sake. There was no hope left and the defeat was almost indescribable. The silent communication between the two men ended as quick as it began in the first place and Saul shifted his focus to Farah. She stood against one of the pillars, her body shaking from sorrow and fear.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>He gulped once before approaching his best friend but stopped in his tracks once he saw the pain glistering in her eyes. This wasn’t just simply about him, but everything and everybody they lost over the years. One more heartbreak might be enough to send her over the edge after keeping all the broken pieces glued together for so many years. She always picked herself up, no matter how often life threw one hardship after another in her face, Farah would get back up, rid herself of the dust and move on. But now one of the people helping her to always glue the broken pieces back in place was about to die and there was no doubt. This heartbreak would be final, there would be no recovery from it.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>The two exchanged a few solemn words before Saul went on to find Sky “What am I going to now? Saul, I need you. Ben needs you. Everybody here does. I can’… How am I supposed to live in a world without you in it.”, her pleas couldn’t change anything they both knew. The surprise Saul felt later that night when the infection slowly decreased was immense. He would live and his best friends didn’t have to move on without him. He’d get another chance to set things right and Saul would be damned if he let the opportunity pass. Their friendship remained strong over the following weeks and Saul couldn’t have been any happier to have such great friends.</em>
</p><p> </p><p>Now he knew how Farah and Ben felt a few weeks ago…</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>My original plan was for Saul to make up only a small part of the new chapter kind of like an entrance but I realized it the chapter was already 2.5k long and it still needed editing :-) The rest will probably come next week.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0005"><h2>5. Chapter 5</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I'm back with a big chapter this time. Don't know yet when the next will come. I hope you'll enjoy</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Once dismissed, the students left the assembly as quickly as possible in an attempt to run away from the truth. None of them liked the changes that were about to take place. Many of the kids came to admire their headmasters in some way. Whether it was Mr. Silva whose authority was enough to demand all their respect and his endless care for all of them. Whenever a student felt like the pressure was too much or when they got troubled by bullies Saul was always there to offer an advice and even lead some counseling sessions with the most difficult one’s. Or Ms. Dowling who always spread encouragement and safety among them. Many of the fairies coming to Alfea had at least on incident in their past where their magic caused havoc and the fear could only be replaced in a slow healing process, like for Stella. But now that both of them had suddenly left the school many of the teenagers felt the fear creeping up on them. The hall seemed to have lost its earlier glory, the moment the students realized the horrible truth and therefore Stella couldn’t wait to join the other in fleeing the scene, however the look her mother cast at her was anything but inviting and she sat in her spot, frozen from her own fear and the clicking sound of high heels shook Stella out of it.</p><p>“Hi mom. I hope your journey to Alfea was a pleasant one?” Maybe, just maybe she’d get away better playing the feigned innocence card, but Luna didn’t look very pleased with her daughter. Her expression resembled something close to disgust before she turned her head halfway to the left where the new headmistress stood and Stella gulped in fearful anticipation of what’s to come next.</p><p>“I hope it won’t be a problem for you when I assign a personal bodyguard to my daughter. After what happened at the palace, I wouldn’t put it past her to run away again.” Stella’s mouth hang open in shock. How dare her mother, who was the reason she ran away in the first place, to put someone to look after her into the only place she still felt somewhat safe. The thought of having some suck up to her mom trailing after her all day long sounded horrible to her but before she could voice her protest Rosalind had long given her okay and the queen left the hall without sparring her daughter another glance. Stella felt like all hope was lost now. How could she ever feel safe here with both their true headmasters being MIA and a personal babysitter whose only purpose was to watch her every move. She had no doubt that if she stepped one toe out of line the new bodyguard would immediately report it to her mother who jumped at every chance to make Stella miserable. Before she lost herself in more doubts Sky’s father approached her.</p><p>“It would be best if you don’t get yourself or your roommates into any trouble. Because if you’ll do the consequences will be severe.” The confusion on her face must have been palpable because Rosalind chimed in as well.</p><p>“We have updated some of Alfea’s rules. It seems to us sadly that Farah and Saul lacked the composure to install proper ground rules for all students and we both fear that without proper punishment the bad behavior won’t quite settle. Their failure caused students to lack proper instructions and thus much needed stability. They will get the stability now through the new rules and the proper punishment for disobedience.”</p><p>Punishment… The word itself was enough to turn Stella’s blood to ice. It could mean so many things, starting from a simple, you’ll have to write a few sentences during detention to physical punishment or public humiliation. Either of the worst-case scenarios sounded horrible to her and the she silently wondered how long she and the rest of the students could live under their methods.</p><p>On her way back to the suite the angry voice from her ex-boyfriend stopped Stella from rounding the corner. “What do you want Beatrix?” Quickly she cast a spell over herself to turn invisible. He was rarely the kind of guy to lash out at anybody and Beatrix still wanted to get back onto the winx for pushing her through the trap. Therefore Stella knew something had to be wrong if Beatrix talked to him and he was already aggravated enough, judging by the sound of his voice earlier. She needed to prepare herself in case the crazy girl tried anything stupid. Sky might be a good fighter but even his chances against somebody as advanced as Beatrix were slim. Once invisible she silently rounded the corner and saw both of them standing close enough that she wondered how long the screaming match went on. Beatrix had the same smug expression from earlier on, which itself was already bad enough, but Sky’s temper seemed to have skyrocketed. Stella knew there were only so few things to get a rise out of him. Too lost in her thoughts she almost missed Bea’s reply.</p><p>“Why should I want anything? You think siblings can’t care for one another. Anyway, I have to get going. Dad wanted me to tell you he’ll be waiting for you in Rosa… I mean the headmistresses office around 5. See ya around. Brother.” Brother? How could this monster possibly be related to Sky who one of the kindest people she ever met? His mother died a long time ago and his father died, well supposedly died quite some time ago as well and she was too old to be his daughter after he faked his death. Each of the solutions Stella could come up with sounded less possible than the next. Before she could stop her own reaction, she sighed in defeat. She quickly covered her mouth, her eyes wide in shock, and the fear of being caught made her immobile for a second. But Beatrix was already long gone, and Sky wouldn’t be mad, would he? After a millisecond she turned around to make a run for it, not wanting to stay around for an answer but he was faster than her and caught the edge of her arm, despite her being invisible.</p><p>“You can come out Stel. I know it’s you. I am not mad at you for eavesdropping.” How he knew what went through Stella’s head the moment she realized her mistake was beyond her as the light around her slowly changed into her usual appearance except her facial expression. The shock about what just occurred ran through her mind but Sky merely rolled his eyes at her in an annoyed fashion.</p><p>Another thing that stood out about him. He never acted this way with her. Sure, they had their fair share of fights in the past but ultimately, they always showed each other respect but now it seemed as Sky didn’t care at all about other people’s opinion. The concern took up a major part of her thoughts these days. Less than three days ago they were all huddled together in the main area, frightened for their lives as Burned One’s attacked the school and all she could think of, in this precise moment, was how much more frightening her mother would be, once she found out where Stella is. The Burned One’s were terrifying, sure, but her own mother had methods making even the most stubborn of her enemies comply.</p><p>And if Luna wanted for her daughter to become the same ruthless, unyielding and strong leader, she wouldn’t stop at anything to get what she wants. Even her daughter feelings about the whole situation didn’t matter at all. All that mattered to Luna is for Stella to be like her. A perfect, younger, copy of herself but she underestimated how her own teachings could turn against her. After the incident with Ricki, Stella began to close herself off from everybody she cared about. Not only her mother but everybody else, including Ricki and Sky. The latter of them now stood in front her, slightly aggravated. He waited for her answer on something obviously and Stella cursed herself inwardly for her own stupidity before she replied.</p><p>“Thanks Sky. And I am sorry for just right now. I got a little lost in my own thoughts. Is everything okay with you?”, he merely responded by puffing out an annoyed breath of air and turned around, ready to leave the little interrogation she just started but now Stella turned out to be quicker one.</p><p>She softly grabbed his biceps to stop him from running the scene but still his back was turned towards her in annoyed fashion. Sky didn’t like the idea of talking to Stella out of all people about his problems. They might be still friends somewhat but it didn’t necessarily mean he would spill his deepest and darkest secrets to her. No, that place was reserved for somebody else in his heart but he also knew that Stella wouldn’t give in too easy so his only option was too wait it out.</p><p>“I don’t know what the fight with Beatrix was all about and even though I want, so badly, to help you I know it isn’t my place to ask these things but maybe just hear my advice, alright? Right now, it might sound like a horrible idea but you need to talk it out. If not with me than somebody else. What about Bloom, or Riven? I am sure they’d listen to whatever is going on. Just promise that you talk to someone about. It doesn’t need to be anyone of us but it will help you in the long run.”</p><p>The next few seconds felt for Stella like eternity as she waited for the answer of one of the few selected people she still cared about. Her mother was right, at the time when she left the school that her friends weren’t really her friends. At least the one’s she would have considered up until then. If they were, they would at least have tried reaching out to her but none of them called or texted. Surprisingly the girls in the winx suite were the one’s who cared for her the most. Stella came to this realization the moment she snuck back into school and instead of an empty room she was greeted with a smaller version of the greenhouse. The affection she felt at that precise moment made her realize who the most important people were in her life.</p><p>Back in the little conversation, Sky turned his head to her halfway with a forced smile and squeezed her hand on his arm a bit. He was going to be fine. Once back at the suite she was greeted with another surprising sight. Only this time it made her blood boil. The other girls were all huddled in one corner of their living space while four men, clearly soldiers from the Solarian tore through the apartment.</p><p>“Who do you think you are and what exactly are you doing in our suite?”, at that all heads, including the grateful one’s of her friends turned to the new arrival. Stella reminded herself to look as regal and imposing as possible. These guys, no matter if they were part of the army, should not mess with a princess and if they needed to be taught the lesson Stella would gladly do so. The incident with Ricki was, despite common knowledge, an accident and not a full meant attack but it didn’t necessarily mean that she wouldn’t lash out it needed. She fixated each of the soldier with her best, disgusted,<em> you’re all worthless look</em> before putting one hand onto her hip and the other gestured towards the men in question.</p><p>The men all looked at each other, wondering who would have to face the angry princess, until a guy in the back sighed a little before making a couple of steps towards her. He bowed a quick bow, as an indication of her title and his respect his gaze met hers. “We have been ordered to search each suite for a possible lead on who sabotaged the circle of stones.”</p><p>Usually, Stella wouldn’t mind his approach but today she felt really pissed off. Pissed off at her mother for dropping the soldiers onto the school ground and reinstating the two horrible monsters as a weak excuse for headmasters. Pissed off at Beatrix, for messing with Sky’s feelings when the poor specialist already had a thousand other things on his mind. But mostly pissed off at the men in front of her, now going through HER things. If not for the sake of outer appearance Stella wouldn’t have suppressed the evil smirk that threatened to burst her face before she carefully replied. “For starters it is Your Royal Highness or Princess Stella. Secondly, who gave you the authority to go through the personal belongings of the princess of Solaria?” She raised her chin a little in an act of defiance. She already had a good guess who stood behind this act and Stella doubted it was for the reasons they stated. Any remorse felt for the poor man in front of her was replaced by more fury. It was one thing to follow her mother’s orders but another to directly lie to a princess, the crown princes out all people. She would have to make sure these soldiers would be placed on a far outpost once she was the queen.</p><p>The man in question looked down onto his feet, contemplating how to smoothen the princess fury at him and his fellas. An order was an order and he never dared disobeying one but even he had to admit that the princess looked absolutely terrifying at the moment “Your Highness. It was your mother, the queen, who ordered every suite to be searched before her department to the capitol. I am afraid that is all I know on the matter. We were given enough information to follow our orders, no more no less.” He bowed one last time to the princess before getting back up but remained silently in his place waiting for the princess to dismiss him. He couldn’t allow himself any more mistakes in the current situation.</p><p>“Whatever you have to do, better do it fast… And before I forget it: I better not find anything missing or worse, broken. If I hear one of my suitemates complain later how you destroyed their personal items, I will see to it personally that you all will be transferred to the worst of the outposts Solaria has to offer. Am I understood?”, she raised her voice a little towards the end to emphasize her point.</p><p>All of the soldiers nodded quickly, probably too afraid for anything else after her threat. None of them had ever visited the outposts and they weren’t keen on spending the next few years at one. After she dismissed them the soldiers hurried as much as their pride allowed it to finish the winx suite as fast as possible. The next five minutes felt like eternity with the soldiers hurrying through the apartment and the other girls looking frightened, Stella fought internally to keep the balance between comforting them, as good as possible in this situation, and keeping her posture as the crown princess of Solaria. When everything was finally done and the soldiers moved out front, probably heading to the next suite, she let out a breath of relief.</p><p>They talked for a little bit about the soldiers’ appearance but before Terra or anyone else could launch into a wild discussion of not only the soldiers but everything at the assembly Stella motioned for them to stay quiet. Knowing her mother, she probably set up these soldiers to hide bugs in case the girls discussed anything noteworthy. The next few hours were a mix of fearful screaming matches, all of them were too much on edge too fully settle down before they talked it out, and poor attempts to kill the time until they met by the ponds at midnight.</p><p> </p><p>Ever since the girls arrived back in Alfea, Bloom felt on edge. It wasn’t only the lies they’ve been told, or the constant feeling of guilt that this is partly their fault, no. It was also the constant worry whether they could still set things right before it was too late. It already seemed like they’ve lost a battle which still needed to be fought. The moment she realized, earlier today, who the man on the right side of Rosalind was, Bloom desperately wanted to talk to Sky. His emotions must have been all over the place after learning his surrogate father supposedly killed his father, then watching the same man being arrested for said murderer, actually attempted murderer, and his biological father showed up out of nowhere after 16 long years. After his confession at the circle of stones she had come to realize how much he loves and cares for the people around him and how much every tiny failure wore on him heavily, feeling like he let down both parental figures he ever had.</p><p>But all of the need to prove himself felt worthless the moment he learned the truth and Bloom didn’t need to be a genius to tell something was wrong. The way he desperately tried to ignore any kind of conversation with her and the edge in his voice earlier told her more than a thousand words could have. After their latest kiss, during the whole mess with the Burned One’s Bloom felt a happiness and love consuming her, it tore on her now even more because she knew he was in pain and there was nothing she could do to help him, so far. The betrayal he must have felt showed obviously by the time the girls arrived at the suite. Not a word came from him until the very last moment and afterwards he stormed off, towards the assembly and said assembly was over, she couldn’t find him in the big crowd of students but hopefully he would show up at the ponds.</p><p>“Could you stop pacing, please? And also please don’t be worried. I am sure we’re going to find a way out of this situation.”, her empath friend looked up at her expectantly but instead of impatience she was met with understanding. The color unvoluntary rose up her cheeks as she sat down. They had a lot to discuss.</p><p>“Are you waiting for us girls?”, all five heads simultaneously shot up like dears caught in a headlight and Sky couldn’t suppress a small chuckle seeing their facial expressions. They most likely thought somebody caught them sneaking outside and naturally feared the consequences from this. However, Sky didn’t react quickly enough when Aisha and Terra shot up from their positions to give both guys a smack on the back of their heads which resulted in a mocked exclaim of hurt from Sam.</p><p>“Ouch. That hurt Terra. You know what, wait till I told dad about this…” He got rudely interrupted by another slap and to his own horror it didn’t come from his sister but from Sky “Seriously mate??? I thought we would be sticking together. Being the only two guys in the group you know?”</p><p>His whinny complain only ended in a new round of laughter for all of them. Aisha, who at the time went back from drinking water out of her bottle spilled it all over the floor due to the laughing, Bloom went completely red as she tried to hide her amusement from her boyfriend and the rest, Terra went to sit next to Stella who gave her an high-five in response and as Sam turned towards his girlfriend she just smiled that teasing smile of hers. The laughter ebbed just a few short minutes later as they moved on to the real reason for their meeting.</p><p>It was Stella who broke the silence first “Okay. Just to summon things up quickly: Silva got arrested, Dowling is god knows where and Mr. Harvey is the only of the three left here at school. The Solarian army patrols the schoolground and Rosalind and Andreas are the new headmasters, correct?”, some of them winced a little at Stella’s harsh summary. They all felt affected by the recent events but nobody did more than Sky. His only father figure, for years, got arrested after the awful truth came out, his biological father survived, but left him for the past sixteen years and the only mother figure he ever had is suddenly missing. Bloom rubbed comforting circles on the back of his hand to calm the young specialist as Sam continued next.</p><p>“You guys probably wonder why our dad isn’t with us outside right now?”, he waited a second for their response before he continued “Well the thing is ever since the Solarians have showed up they’ve been watching him like the hawks. There’s no way he could have slipped away even if it’s just for an hour. They don’t trust him at all which is why whatever we agree on we’ll have to do it ourselves.” The others seemed to contemplate the gravity of his statement. Nobody was keen on going against Rosalind without the necessary support. They would need all the help they could get and to know that one of the few trustable people was out of reach, though he was only minutes away 24/7, didn’t sit well.</p><p>“That’s not good Sam. We’re going to need the expertise of at least one professor. Nobody here ever really met Rosalind and the few things we know about Andreas are not nearly enough. Is there anything he might have mentioned to the two of you? About Rosalind? It doesn’t need to be from today but maybe during the Burned One’s attack?” Aisha’s was right. If the winx were going to form a plan they could use as much help as possible. Sam looked over to Terra, hoping she had any news for them but his sister could only shrug her shoulders in response.</p><p>Suddenly though a faint memory from a long time ago came back to him. He was only 6 years old at the time and should have long been in bed but his mother’s death still gave him nightmares sometimes just like that night. He got up from his bed and shuffled with his feet towards the living space sleepily but stopped dead in his tracks once he heard the voices of his dad, Uncle Saul and Aunt Farah. He retold the conversation to his friends “When I was a little younger, six years old maybe, I heard Saul and Farah talk to our dad something late at night. They’ve been joking around for a while until Saul mentioned their mentor. I’m pretty sure now that they meant Rosalind by it. Anyways he recited how horrible her teaching methods always were. Dad jokingly replied something about Saul sailing through the air into the ponds after one of the sessions and I think Farah mentioned how she still got the scars. Oh and dad apparently got knocked too many times in training, he had to switch to support for a while to let the injuries heal properly. I don’t remember much more except that it had to do with their mentor.”</p><p>“What???” The shrieking like response from Bloom made Sam realize that the others were seemingly shocked by his trip down the memory lane. He had never given too much thought to a memory that didn’t make any sense to him. It was actually a little miracle for him to remember it still so vividly but now it made much more sense and he understood the girls much better.</p><p>“Hold on for a sec… Mr. Silva sailing through the air into the ponds? I would have paid good money to see it… Ouch” Musa rubbed her arm in mock offense after her boyfriend gave it a playful pinch.</p><p>Surprisingly Sky chimed in into the little banter “Nuh. I wouldn’t have paid money for that. I would have paid a fortune to be able to read his thoughts like a mind fairy at this time” This sent everybody into another roar of laughter. It was a good thing to hear Sky joking around again, even if the joke went against his adoptive father but right now, he didn’t find it in himself to care. The news he received in the past week were a load and he needed to process them somehow first before worrying about other peoples’ feelings.</p><p>Unfortunately, the mood shifted rather quickly again when Terra moved on “As amusing as it is. What I wonder is how her methods are going to affect our training? The queen already mentioned at the assembly how we will only train for combat now but if Rosalind’s methods are enough to scare all three of them I worry what it means for us. Especially Bloom and Stella.”</p><p>She turned towards her fire fairy friend who snuggled a little closer to Sky “You’ve transformed Bloom as the first fairy in a thousand years. I’m pretty sure whatever Rosalind has in store she will try to make you transform…”</p><p>“No fucking way!” All eyes turned to Bloom who just lashed out. The fire fairy heaved the air in and out in a small panic attack. As amazing as it felt to wield this kind of power, she was also scared beyond anything to loose control. After she accidentally burned down the house and injured her mother the one thing Bloom always felt a little scared was to loose control again. Additionally, the last time Rosalind tried to make her transform, Bloom realized how the woman only wanted to use the power for her own good and promised herself to never let that happen but since the older woman is now their headmistress she might not have a choice. She hardly noticed anything else while Sky rubbed soothing circles on her back but at some point, she felt him squeeze her hand and thus her focus shifted back to the actual conversation.</p><p>“I wonder what will happen to my job as the headmistress’ assistant. I don’t quite like the idea of working for and so closely with Rosalind.” Aisha stared at the ground absently. Truth to be told, none of them wanted to be around the woman any more than necessary but in case Rosalind would decide to keep her as an assistant it could certainly play into their cards.</p><p>“I wouldn’t like the idea either if I were you but see it maybe from this point? If you were still her assistant you could spy on that woman perfectly like you did when Dowling was headmistress.” Stella’s comment made Aisha reconsider keeping the position. It would certainly be a big help but it didn’t mean she liked taking the risk.</p><p>“Alright I’ll do it but what else can we do? We won’t be able to solve everything if everybody relies on my spying skills”</p><p>“I could maybe try and see if there is any gossip that’ll help. Maybe I can get to know how Mr. Silva is doing by calling in a favor from home?”</p><p>“That would be great Stella. God I hope he and Ms. Dowling are fine” They all nodded in agreement to the things Terra just said. They needed to know what happened to their actual headmasters and the sooner the better. “I just feel like it still won’t be enough though. Is there anything else you could think of?”</p><p>“Maybe I can try to get a read on Sky’s father and Rosalind? It’s a long shot but who knows. We could be lucky.” Musas idea was great, except the two headmasters had good experiences in shielding themselves from mind fairies. Take Farah for example, who was Rosalind’s protégé for years. The two mind fairies worked so closely together for such a long time and formed a bond similar to a mother daughter relationship, at some point, they knew each other’s powers so well that mental walls built themselves almost automatically.</p><p>“I’m sure you could try but better be careful. I know when Ms. Dowling tried to get into Beatrix head she never succeeded and the girl grew up as Andreas’ daughter. She had to learn it from somebody and I am sure the person she learned it from must be even better than her. And what happens if they find out about you trying to invade their minds?” Sam’s was right with the concern for Musa. The possible consequences if they found out would probably be severe and he needed to remind her of the risk she’ll be taking but in the end all of them had to if they wanted to find things out.</p><p>“I promise I will be careful but at least try to see from my side and if it doesn’t work on these two maybe I can find something out by reading Dane or Riven. We all take a certain risk investigating but, in the end, if we don’t, we’re not gonna find out what happened. We have to do this but it’s not the last thing we can do, I think.”</p><p>“Yeah that sounds better than the first idea. I can try to get something out of dad when the guards aren’t around…”</p><p>“But Sam, he already said they won’t leave him except for at night. Even then, the guards will monitor his door.” Terra’s argument didn’t have the hopeful effect on her brother, to ponder the idea again and think about another alternative. Instead, he was grinning from ear to ear mischievously which only managed to aggravate his sister.</p><p>“Pff. When has a closed door or something along the line ever stopped me Terra? I’ll just walk straight through it… aaaand I can figure something out about the guards at dad’s door if necessary.” Sam’s carefree and joking attitude lightened the mood a bit more again as the group thought about other ways to find out the truth. Sure they had now four different people doing different things but there were more options to take and so the silent questioning continued.</p><p>“Maybe if Musa’s idea of reading the adults won’t work I can get something from my fat… I mean Andreas. I know he wanted to talk to me ever since he arrived at Alfea and I could use it to our advantage. Besides I wanted to talk to him about things anyway but this way at least something positive will come out of it.” Sky’s attempt of humor towards the end wasn’t lost on the rest of them. They all knew he still needed to figure things out, but they also knew, no matter what he would decide on, he was still on their side because that’s the kind of person Sky is. He will always be on the side of good and the other teenagers in the round respected him deeply for his courage. However, nobody voiced any concerns to his idea, too afraid of adding another thing on Sky’s list of things he needed to worry about now.</p><p>“Terra. You think you might be able to get something out of Dane? I know you kinda hate him for the things he said about you a few weeks back but I’m sure Dane still somewhat cares about your opinion even if doesn’t look like that. I got a good read on his emotions and to cut the long story short: After the party he was just too afraid and also prideful to approach you again. Maybe thought he needed to be more around the cool one’s and stuff? Anyways I think you have a chance to crack him up.”</p><p>“I don’t know Musa. It’s not that I wouldn’t give it a try if it helps us, but I remember a talk I had with Riven after I managed to knock one of the specialists to the ground during training. He mentioned how Dane is completely smitten by Beatrix and I don’t think that the chances are really good. But… If it doesn’t work Bloom and I can figure something out together. You’re the only without something so far.” Everybody knew Terra’s enthusiasm to talk to Dane again was basically zero but just like the rest of them she needed to try.</p><p>“That sounds good Terra. But I don’t really know what I could possibly help you with? I don’t have much knowledge about the Otherworld and Rosalind won’t trust at me all, at least for now.” Bloom shrugged her shoulders helplessly. The guilt she still experienced made things harder for her to focus on something productive. She was right about things though: Rosalind wouldn’t trust her right now, if she ever would, and her lack of knowledge about magic and the Otherworld made it difficult to find a good task for her. Nonetheless the girl wanted to help and Stella had a pretty good idea how.</p><p>“Sure she wouldn’t trust you Bloom. To be honest I didn’t either at the beginning of the school year. Even our headmasters were a bit suspicious after your little fun trip with Beatrix…” hearing Musa coughing not so discreet the blonde interrupted her statement to glare at the empath before she continued. “My point is: You have a tendency for breaking the school rules and be at places you shouldn’t be without people noticing. Maybe you can research something in the library or in one of the locked war rooms. There must be something useful hidden among all those books and records. And if it doesn’t lead us to Dowling or Silva maybe we find a useful spell or stuff about transformation magic, huh?”</p><p>All of them agreed after a second contemplating the proposal and silently headed back to the school. Musa and Sam walked in the front, hand in hand, with an occasional skip in their steps. Both of them were happy being together after everything that so recently took place. Stella and Aisha chatted excited, though both pretended to hate each other, it was too obvious how well they actually got along. Their drive for constant advancement in their magic was one issue for a common ground. Terra later joined the two girls in their chatting, seemingly happy to contribute some happiness. While the others were happily walking back, glad they could find reasonable ideas on how to proceed, two stayed a bit behind, eager to discuss some of the newest developments amongst themselves.</p><p>“What did really happen when Mr. Silva got arrested? You’ve told me already about the thing at Aster Dell between your dad and him but I can’t help and wonder what took place while we were in the first world Sky.” She treated the topic careful, trying not too obviously show how much she rather wanted to ask how he feels with the whole situation. However, Sky immediately knew the game and answered the unasked questions as well.</p><p>“We’ve talked about the events at Aster Dell and he mentioned, again, how sorry he felt for everything that happened but instead of just saying stuff like:<em> I don’t wanna talk about it now. </em>Or: <em>Let’s forget this whole thing.</em> I just pushed even further, because I was so hurt at the time I wanted him to feel some of the emotions that I felt. He probably wonders if I will ever forgive him and for some time I didn’t know either. But still, he was the person to always care for me. Even before Aster Dell it was always uncle Saul who dropped by to give the little boy a treat or who took the time, when all other adults didn’t have it, to play with me. It will still take a lot of time to process everything but I just… I wanna be able to say thank you to him one more time Bloom. One more thank you for everything he did for me despite the current situation.</p><p>And for Andreas: I don’t really know what to make of him. I want to see what person he became but on the other hand I feel so angry. Angry he’s working with Rosalind, angry he raised another kid but giving me up, angry he made me mourn his death for the past sixteen years, though he never died in the first place.” His breath turned more rapid with every word uttered and the tears threatened to spill now more than ever but nothing he tried helped to calm his emotions. It felt like the moment when Sky went to see Saul after the party.</p><p>The young specialist was overjoyed when the message of the defeated Burned One popped up at his screen. Of course, the first thing on his mind was to look how his father figure was doing. He went to the greenhouse first, assuming that he probably got a final dose of Zanbaq before being dismissed but nobody was there. He wanted to search for him at the apartment next but before he could leave, he saw Saul wandering around the specialists training grounds from afar and moved to catch up with him. However, the sight he was greeted with when he finally found Saul was anything but pleasant. Instead of a retreating infection he found him sitting absently on the mats, starring down to the ground, and to make things worse the infection progressed instead of going back.</p><p>When Saul declared that the battalion hunted the wrong Burned One the whole time and his time would be running out Sky only wanted one thing: Going out there to hunt the beast himself. His ‘father’ pleaded with him not to do it, to make sure he stayed safe instead of risking his life out there, but Sky couldn’t care less about it. The only fact present in his mind was how he would be losing another father figure, again.</p><p>Back to the present he turned towards Bloom, who stopped walking by now and dared to look into her eyes. He expected seeing emotions like pity or sorrow but instead all he found was deep running love and understanding. How she could muster the understanding, though she had never been in his situation before, was a mystery to Sky but he was glad nonetheless. He broke out into a small smile himself before leaning down and giving her lips a soft peck. They continued standing in the same position, foreheads meeting each other in the middle, the arms slung around them as if they were afraid to let go, for another few minutes before they parted ways at the entrance and made their way back to the suites.</p><p>Back in her room Bloom got ready, like all the other girls to head to bed while she thought about the things nobody said aloud tonight though it plagued all their minds. What did really happen to their headmistress and what is Luna’s and Andreas’ involvement in the whole mess? She continued thinking about it until she finally drifted off to sleep, the events of the past 24 hours finally catching up with her and found herself in a rather strange dream concerning a Latina looking woman:</p><hr/><p>The woman ran through an unknown forest, like she was being chased by a horde of Burned One’s. The sweat glistered on her forehead and arms as she sprung over fallen branches and ducked under others. From the looks of it she was either running for a good while or had been in quite the hurry. Bloom figured it must have been the latter, though there were some things about the strange woman she couldn’t place. The way she clung to the bag in her arms as if her life depended on it was rather strange. Sure, she maybe had something of great value inside of it but then why running with it was so important. Unless… Unless it wasn’t her life that depended on the bag’s contents. The woman’s clothes were worn down, like she lived either on the street or too far off from society to bother.</p><p>The woman heard a twig snapping someplace behind her and whipped her head around, eyes going wide in fear and frantically searched for any threats lingering in the dark forest. Her hair got into her face, making it harder to see anything outside and the moon being her only source of light didn’t make it any easier on the woman. Sadly, she forgot in those few seconds to pay enough attention to the direction she was running at and therefore tripped and fell unceremoniously to the ground, except she twisted her body fast enough to not land on top of the precious bag.</p><p>She banged her head on the ground with a loud thud and curses left the woman’s mouth that made Bloom visibly wince. She wanted to help the woman, getting up and maybe the healing the wounds, but found out the person in question couldn’t see her, in fact she doubted whether this was really a dream or something more because Bloom couldn’t even see her own reflection in the little puddle nearby. It was like Bloom was a spectator in her own dream. She followed the woman as she slowly, but surely, got back onto her feet and continued to run but this time a bit slower than before. After another minute the woman stood in front of several graves. Most of them were neatly lined up next to each other, in a few rows and Bloom guessed the number around two dozen.</p><p>However, one grave stood further away from the rest, clearly not meant to line up with the others but still here. If this was a private graveyard and all graves were put into perfect position, what happened make this a special one. To lost in thoughts Bloom almost missed the moment the woman used some weird kind of magic. Her hands were enclosed by a bloodred form of energy and the words leaving her mouth sounded weird and foreign to her.</p><p>Suddenly all the daisies on the graves retreated and a strange sort of energy, glowing silver, went from all of the lined up graves to the outstanding one. The intensity of the glow increased, as did the volume of the woman’s voice, with each second passing until Bloom had to shield her eyes from the light to not get blinded. She blinked a few times but when she opened her eyes again she found herself back in her room, all of her suite mates around her bed, wide awake with concern glistering in their eyes but the only thing tumbling out of her mouth, as she shot up into a sitting position, was: “What the hell just happened?”</p><hr/><p>He loved to watch the daily scenes, unfolding just right from this window. From all the studies he could have chosen, he preferred this specific one because it provided him with this view. It wasn’t anything majestic, happening outside the glassed front but it was comforting in a certain sense, watching common people live their lives and browse through the alleys of the capitol’s marketplace. Children were chatting amongst them, most likely wondering about the next mischief they could cause, women debating on of the market stalls, which of the fabrics suited whom, and everything else that took place on a daily basis. He liked to see these things, when the daily responsibilities were getting the better of him, he retreated to this specific study, just like today. Most of his staff members didn’t remember after all this time or were simply too young for it but the anniversary was never easy for him.</p><p>As a single tear made it’s way down his cheek he looked onto one of the older photos framed on his desk. His brothers and father, who were his one and only, all looked happily around. It was one of the rare times where duty didn’t weight down the mood during something as official as a photo session. They all smiled like idiots, having a little contest who made silliest pose on the picture. The four boys grew very much isolated from other kids their age and therefore relied on each other, though David was a bit of surprise to his parents, as they didn’t plan on another child but the mischievous little boy always found his way, especially his way into their hears. During the old days the four brothers would play pranks, break rules and do anything else to lift the mood especially in times of war.</p><p>A war that cost his family so much heartbreak and loss. His eldest and youngest brother both fell, in different battles, against the Burned One’s and after this sudden and unexpected loss his father withered away in sleep. The pain of losing his oldest and youngest child was too much for his frail heart. Left with no other choice it was up to him, as the second oldest to lead Domino into a new era of security and order.</p><p>Before he could dwell any further on his memories one loyal servant, who worked for his family longer than he lived, burst through the door. “My king. I am deeply sorry for the rude interruption but there are news I knew you immediately would want to hear.” He moved his hand absently to signal the servant it was okay to continue.</p><p>“We heard rumors. Rumors that a girl, visiting the school for fairies and specialists in Alfea has the power of transformation. They say she has the dragon flame, my lord.”</p><p>The king paled by several shades. If the rumor was true than he needed to act soon. The girl would need protection from every person who would want to get their hands on this power. If the girl truly wielded the dragon flame the question of the parenthood would play a major part, mostly for them. Due to the prophecy, the real prophecy nobody except the royal family of Domino knew about the dragon flame it was out of question that he needed to find her, fast. Too lost in thought the king almost didn’t notice the servant still standing in the studies. Usually, he would give the servant a lecture for still imposing on him but he knew this specific one well enough to realize something else was going on.</p><p>“Whatever it is you have to say, please do so now and then leave me be.”</p><p>“Well, the rumor unfortunately also mentioned how the school has been taken over by the previous headmistress Rosalind with no trace of headmistress Dowling and that the Solarian army patrols the school grounds. I am not entirely sure and couldn’t ask the spy of course but have reason to believe that the former headmistress Rosalind is back for exactly the same reason. She wants the dragon flame.” Bowing once, the servant left the studies and thus the king to his thoughts.</p><p>If the wicked woman, who caused one of his brothers, unbeknownst to her of course, to die among so many other doubtable things, was back all of the sudden, he needed to hurry now more than ever.</p><p>“Don’t worry David. I will find her and I will save her. If it’s the last thing I do. I will save your daughter.”</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>And some more news about my OC David. Feel free to comment. ;-)</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0006"><h2>6. Chapter 6</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Bloom faces the truth after her strange dream... Or was it something more than a simple dream. And Sky faces his father for the first time and things turn out... rather unexpected.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Long time no see. I know I took a while but I was extremely busy with college. We wrote the first exam this week and now I have a big report to hand by the the 04/01 and another big test in early May. I will try to update every once in a while but I don't know for sure when the next one will come. I hope you'll enjoy this one here.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“What happened Bloom? Are you ok?” The concerned voice of her roommate shook the young fire fairy out of her daydreaming. First this strange sort of dream happened and now she couldn’t quite focus on anything. Her rapid breath reminded the redhead how real everything felt back in the dream and she swallowed hard before answering.</p><p>“I’m fine Aisha. I just had a really weird dream that’s all. Why are all of you in here?” Hopefully it didn’t have anything to do with that strange dream of hers. Was she too loud, possibly talking in sleep or did they maybe experience the same thing? All that was left for Bloom was the need to catch some more sleep but with the speed her heart beat in her chest the chances of drifting off any time soon were almost zero. The look Aisha threw at the other girls made her chest tighten. What did happen while she was asleep?</p><p>This time Stella joined the conversation “I don’t know how you usually dream or what your dreams are about but that here Bloom” she threw her hands up in desperation and annoyance, “This wasn’t a simple dream. Your eyes were glowing and … Oh before I forget you were screamed at some point; we were worried you might wake somebody outside the suite.</p><p>Bloom winced visibly. It was never her intention to scare the girls like this and even more so possibly gaining unwanted attention from outside their suite. Hell… She didn’t even ask for this dream or whatever it was in the first place but yet here she was. “Sorry I woke you all up. I don’t know why my eyes glowed or when I started screaming but I swear it was a dream”, the next part came out in a mumble, but they heard her nonetheless “At least it felt like a dream”.</p><p>Worried glances took up a major part in their non-verbal communication. The last time Bloom’s eyes glowed like that she had a vision of Rosalind but there were enough differences between both situations. This time Musa mustered the courage to speak up “I don’t think it was just a regular dream this time Bloom. We all saw your eyes and they definitely glowed and besides… I got a good read on your emotions while you were still asleep and I could feel all this anxiety and fear and…”</p><p>“Wait you felt all that?” When Musa nodded a bit confused at her sudden outburst Bloom steeled herself before continuing “I don’t think that these were my emotions you felt. In my dream, well it wasn’t exactly a dream more like I watched something happening in Live.There was somebody else. I couldn’t figure out what she was up for but she seemed highly distressed. Almost like she was running for her life except there was nobody but the two of us and when she fell to the ground I wanted to help her up but noticed that she couldn’t see me.”</p><p>“Describe everything. Every tiny detail you noticed.” Stella commanded of her.</p><p>“Alright. When the dream started, I was suddenly in a forest in the middle of the night. Just like now… Huh even the moon looks exactly the same. Anyway I was in the forest and trailed after a woman, probably in her thirties, a Latina like looking one. She ran through the forest in an incredible speed and it was hard not falling behind.</p><p>Umm. Her clothes were rather worn down, like she lived either on the streets or didn’t care at all. In her arms she carried this backpack” Bloom half absently gestured with her own arms to emphasize her point, “The way she carried it, like her life depended on it was rather strange. When the lady heard a twig snapping she turned around while still running on full speed and tripped because of it but instead of using the bag as a protection for herself she twisted her whole body in order to protect and let out a fearful scream. She was so afraid of landing on top of the bag and then her head hit the ground and she didn’t get up right away which was when I noticed that she couldn’t see or hear me…”</p><p>“Well, this all sounds rather weird but why would you dream of some lady running through the forest”</p><p>“I wasn’t finished! Anyway after the woman got up she continued running until we arrived at some sort of graveyard. The strange part wasn’t the graveyard itself but they way the graves were lined up. All of them, except of one, were neatly lined up in several rows behind each other and they were all covered with white daisies. Don’t these flowers need good maintenance? Then the woman suddenly used some weird magic. I have never seen or heard anything like it. The words sounded foreign and then there was this weird reddish glow around her hands and all of the daisies from the neatly lined up graves grew to the outstanding one. That’s about the point I woke in here.”</p><p>Most of her friends had confused expressions all over their faces except Stella and Terra. Their faces paled by several shades ever since she talked about the graveyard. They obviously knew something the rest didn’t and Bloom was too tired to care for niceties. “Terra, Stella just spit it out. What do you know about this?”</p><p>“Umm. Well I am not 100% sure mostly because the thing I think of and most likely Stella thinks about too is a forbidden art. You see, a few years ago they made it forbidden but there are some old books about it and my dad kept some of them in his library.”</p><p>“Get to the point Terra!” Stella threw into the round.</p><p>“Sorry. Back to the topic: I think the magic you talked about is blood witchery. If this woman is a blood witch and you suddenly start dreaming of her that can’t be good. After all these blood witches from Aster Dell kidnapped you before and… the way you described her use of magic it sounded like a resurrection ritual. Maybe somebody she knew died and now this woman decides to bring her or him back.”</p><p>Everything Terra mentioned sounded completely plausible, that’s a first, but Aisha didn’t want to believe such powerful magic existed. She, just like Bloom, lived most of her life in the first world where magic is more like a ‘fairy tale’ told to kids before night but actually raising somebody from the dead? Was that even possible? “Hold on for a second. A resurrection ritual? Is that even possible, I mean even with something as dark as blood magic it sounds impossible to me. But let’s just assume for a moment that you are right Terra, then who is she trying to resurrect? From the tells of Bloom’s dream that person was clearly not meant to be buried alongside the others and how long has this person been dead. For all we know she could try to bring a dangerous warlord or something along the line back. It could literally be anybody. What are you smiling about Terra? For the record THIS ISN’T FUNNY.”</p><p>“Calm down. First of all, whoever this woman is she can’t just bring anybody back. If the spell is supposed to work the person would need to be freshly dead without rotting already. There is one spell that I know of that postpones such rotting after death, but it lasts only for about a month before settling down. Whoever the person is she wants to bring back must have died in the last 30 days. The better question for me is where this graveyard is. We won’t find anything out by sitting around and doing nothing, but we can’t run around aimlessly and hope we might stumble across the right one.”</p><p>Oh no… Bloom was anything but looking forward to seeing this strange graveyard, but the girls looked determined to find out. They were clearly concerned about her wellbeing which filled her heart with joy, knowing she could always rely on them.</p><p>“I might be able to help with the last part.” All eyes were now on her again and she took in a deep breath before continuing. “Ever since I woke up I felt a strange sensation, like I am being drawn somewhere and I think that this feeling wherever it came from wants to show me into the direction of the graveyard. It’s actually not that far away.”</p><p>“Great, lets go everybody” Stella replied eagerly. All eyes snapped into her direction like dears caught in headlights. It was in the middle of the night and they were all tired but something about her eagerness felt… off.</p><p>“I mean sure we can go right now but why though? None of us wants to be late in our first classes tomorrow with the new headmasters.”</p><p>“Oh forgot to mention. Before I got to join you all in the suite after the assembly my mom mentioned something before she walked away. Starting from tomorrow on I will have some kind of “personal bodyguard” trailing after every move I make and I’m sure he’s going to report anything out of the ordinary directly to my mother.”</p><p>“This is bad news. I guess if everybody is okay with it we can go out there tonight?” The other fairies nodded quickly in return. Less than 5 minutes later they were all gathered in their living room before sneaking across the school. They used the secret tunnel Rosalind showed Bloom a few days ago after they broke out of Dowling’s office. Bloom silently congratulated herself for thinking about this one. From all the entrances Rosalind and the Solarian army secured nobody thought the students might get away by using the secret passageway, mostly because only four people in the entire school knew about it but luckily Bloom was one of them.</p><p>After ten, maybe fifteen more minutes the group reached the graveyard that Bloom saw in her dreams. Clearly the one furthest to the side now missed its content and they all swallowed in fear of what it might mean for them. They ventured out in the middle of the night to go after a strange person who they didn’t know anything about besides the fact that she was a blood witch. However they soon found fresh footprints leading away from the graveyard and they followed it. Maybe that woman didn’t get away just yet if she had to carry a corpse through the forest it would slow her down significantly and they might have a chance of catching her just in time. The tracks ended at a narrow street and they noticed a small figure hopping into the front of a red pick-up, speeding away with an ungodly speed. Luckily for them Stella took her phone too when they left the suite and quickly caught the license plate on camera before the girls headed back to the school. The sun would get up in another hour and they needed to make it back before then.</p><p>Back at the suite Stella noticed Terra’s concerned looks into the group. Sure they were all a bit worried and rightfully so but Terra seemed to be even more nervous than the rest of them together.</p><p>“Everything okay? I know tonight was a lot. For everybody.”</p><p>“I am fine… I think. But when we were at the graveyard I noticed something. The bench there wasn’t some random one, no. My father made it. I can recognize his handwork. Whatever people are buried around that place he must know something. He wouldn’t make the benches for everybody. I need to talk to him about this somehow. Maybe Sam can.”</p><p>“That sounds like a good plan though it won’t do you anything good to dwell on it now. We only got a couple of hours left before we have to get up again. Go get some more sleep like the rest of us.”</p><p>The next morning it took a lot of willpower for all the girls, including Aisha who never slept in, to get up and get ready. They were all still exhausted from the previous night but mostly they didn’t want to face the new reality they were greeted with ever since arriving at the school. After 10 minutes listening to the blaring sounds of an alarm and a moody princess constantly turning the lights on and off in all their rooms to get them awake even Bloom managed to get ready. Out of all her suitemates she was always the last to wake up, being the heavy sleeper she is, the other girls could carry her, on the mattress, and drop it front of their door and Bloom still wouldn’t notice.</p><p>The girls all dreaded the moment they would face Rosalind in class but more so Sky dreaded the moment he needed to talk with his father. When Beatrix announced that Andreas wanted to talk with him yesterday in Rosalind’s office, he of course skipped it but now he was bound to talk to him. Not only because his father would continue the classes for the specialists but even more so because he promised the girls and Sam that he would help them. There wasn’t any other option for him now but he had come to terms with it in some way. What he couldn’t swallow done however was all the issues surrounding them. His father neglected him in those sixteen years, among many other things, and Sky simply didn’t know if he had it in him to lie like that and pretend all his hurt feelings weren’t there.</p><p>When he arrives at the ponds most of his classmates are already there except for the usual late comers. Sparring a glance at his watch he noticed that they only got one more minute left to arrive. From the few memories he had left of Andreas the young specialist remembered vividly how his father highly valued punctuality. True to his memories the man in question stepped onto one of the sparring grounds, perfectly on time, before addressing the assembled specialists. A couple or so were still missing but it wasn’t much of a surprise to Sky. While they faced consequences like extra rounds and stuff when Saul lead the training Andreas wouldn’t give them the mercy. No he would make sure they feared him enough to never be late again in ways none of them would have ever deemed possible.</p><p>“You will notice many things changing now in your daily schedule. From now on I expect every one of you to complete a certain minimum of hours for combat training. You will spar against each other based on rules I will still explain. If you disobey there will be severe punishment. If you ditch the classes or arrive too late there will be consequences but most importantly there will be consequences if you don’t work well in combat. Your sparring sessions will be monitored always by at least one combat teacher and based on the outcome of the match and the skills you showed in that particular fight we will form a ranking with the best specialists on the top and the weakest of you on the bottom. The ranking will decide which of you can continue studying at Alfea in the next year and who will drop out.</p><p>Now to the rules of your sparring: First is that you will only start with a one on one. I don’t want any involvement or tips from the sidelines during the matches or you’re out. Secondly the match goes until one of you yields or is unconscious. I don’t want any deaths around here, at least not any time soon. But don’t think that such coward action as yielding will be taking kindly either. And to my last point: You will fight each other like your life depends on it. If one of the mentors notices only half-baked fights and sparring you will drop out immediately. Am I understood?”</p><p>After a chorus of yes sir, they started the evaluation with the first few fights. When some scrawny kid from his year managed to beat one of the larger guys in the class above him, he cheered for his classmates internally. The other teen was always a bit of a jerk and the satisfaction of seeing him getting his ass kicked like that in front of everybody felt good. Unfortunately, the bigger guy wasn’t unconscious yet and therefore Andreas told the smaller kid to continue his attack unless he wanted punishment.</p><p>The scrawny teen however didn’t do as told, defying Andreas because he wouldn’t punch a guy who was already on the ground. Sky realized with a sickening realization that something terribly bad would happen now any moment to his poor classmate. How badly he wanted to help him right but knowing he couldn’t without risking the same for himself. Of course, if Andreas would go way over the top Sky would still jump in but it was for the better if he saved his energy for the real problems.</p><p>“All right. EVERYBODY LISTEN UP. This boy thinks he can disobey me without facing the right consequences, but I won’t tolerate this defiance. You will see now what I mean by punishment. Step onto the ring again Alex.” The scrawny teenager did as asked though on shaking legs from his fear.</p><p>“Your punishment is to fight me now. And unlike you I won’t show mercy.” Without further warnings Andreas sprinted towards him in neck breaking speed landing a right hook with incredible precision right under the teens chin. It wasn’t enough to knock him out of course. His father wanted to show them his full strength and one right hook wouldn’t do it. He wanted to humiliate the other kid and for this to happen he needed him fully aware of his surroundings for a little more time. Alex screamed out in pain but brought his arms up in defense quick enough to block the next few hits. From that point on he was solely on his defense against the well experienced trainer. His punches flew in a speed making any normal person dizzy just by looking at them, but their trained eyes allowed them to see more than the blur of attacks.</p><p>Andreas had the teen already worn down enough to bring a clean knock out with one more concentrated hit, creating many openings for himself but he used none of them. He wanted to show them his superiority and now they all got to face it first-hand. After another minute he swiped the kid’s feet from underneath him and knocked him out with one quick punch to the temple.</p><p>They all stare at their new headmaster, most of them with a mouth wide of shock from what just occurred. Some of the bystanders looked like they wanted to jump in and help the other kid but the threatening look on Andreas face told them otherwise. After another 30 minutes the training was over, for now, and Sky couldn’t get away fast enough, but he still needed to approach his father for their plan to work.</p><p>He sighed deeply walking in his direction, a hesitant smile on his face. “I know we still need to talk. If you want to I got some time now before the next class is coming up, what do you think?”</p><p>His father now had a nervous smile himself. Almost guilty like he knew the insults about his absence were bound to come at any moment and there was no good excuse for it.</p><p>“Sounds good to me boy. What do you wanna talk about?”</p><p>Sky puffed out an annoyed breath of air. He thought that man had some nerves starting like this. “What do I want to talk about hmm… How about the way you left for sixteen fucking years and raised a crazy murdering girl instead?”</p><p>“Don’t talk about your sister like that” Sky wanted to object but the expression on Andreas face taught him better than to interrupt now. When did his father turn into a cruel person? “First off Beatrix isn’t like you think. She might be this way to any outsiders but those she truly cares about she is loyal to a fault. If you would give her a chance, she’d do almost anything for the big brother she always heard about. And the other matter: You know damn well why I stayed away for so long.”</p><p>His father looked to the ground, obviously contemplating how to say the next thing. The young specialist didn’t expect him to be so deeply troubled by what he had to say. It was surprising to say the least, but Sky wouldn’t give in too easy. After all Andreas worked with Rosalind and this woman could never be trusted and who knows, maybe his father staged all these emotions in order to gain his trust?</p><p>“I don’t know what to do. Truth to be told I am so f*** angry with you for… for everything. But on the other hand I want to get to know you.” Sky didn’t need to lie about that last part and the relief was instantaneous. Some of the tightness lifted of his heart, making it easier to breath for the first time in days now. Maybe there was a chance for them, if not to be father and son again because this spot was now reserved for somebody else, to possibly being around each other without hurting emotionally.</p><p>His father nodded solemnly, and they parted ways before Sky tried looking for his girlfriend, who’s first class should be over by now too. Hopefully Rosalind didn’t go too hard on her and the other winx. After their conversation by the ponds last night, he feared what the older woman might do to Bloom simply because she can transform. Unfortunately he couldn’t find her anywhere and if he continued his search much longer he would be late for his next class but luckily he saw Musa, Terra and Aisha walking around together. A few other teens complained as he pushed his way through the crowd but he needed to know where Bloom was and more importantly if she was okay.</p><p>“Terra, sorry to interrupt but I was wondering if any of you knew where Bloom is? I’ve been looking for her almost everywhere, no luck so far. Didn’t you all have the last class with her?”</p><p>The girls exchanged a few worried glances, only adding onto the pile of reasons why he should worry about her, but Terra’s next words were nothing he could have thought of possible.</p><p>“Umm Sky. You see in class today we were told to push pasts every limit we ever had before. Most of us did okay, considering none of us ever summoned this much magic but Bloom and Stella didn’t. They were too afraid of their own powers and Rosalind told them to wait in her office until they receive further instructions. I don’t know what kind of punishment they will get but it can’t be good.”</p><p>If the fairies consequences was anything like the punishment of his classmate earlier he feared for their safety. What if she ended up in the infirmary or worse? Rosalind wouldn’t accept a defiance from the only fairy alive able to transform. The only one they know about at least.</p><p>“Sky what is wrong? You look really troubled. I know that this sounds bad, but we shouldn’t worry about things too soon…”</p><p>“You don’t understand Terra. Today in class one of the kids defied my father’s direct order and the result… He’s in the infirmary now: Several broken bones and a big concussion. I just hope that you fairies get off better than this.”</p><p>“That’s bad indeed but we can’t loose hope okay? Promise me that you won’t loose your hope just yet. We will know by the end of the day how bad it is and if things get out of hand, I’m sure Bloom could get her parents to drop her out of school for an indefinite amount of time or something.”</p><p>He nodded at them, not feeling well enough to form a coherent response as his throat tightened due to his immense worry. He would find out what happened soon but for now he needed to head to his next class.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>A few more details about Bloom's strange dream. Anybody having an idea on what I'm trying to hint at. I am trying to not be too obvious but at the same time not drop to many cues before the actual part comes. Also I couldn't help myself but feel a tiny bit inspired by the movie divergent for the scene where the specialists train. <br/>Feel free to comment. :-)</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0007"><h2>7. Chapter 7</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>This chapter is a bit shorter, 2.5k but I still short on time and didn't want to wait any longer with the new chapter. Had a little of a writer's blockade (still do). I already have a general idea how I want the book to end but getting there is a little problem right now. I put in another reference to a different franchise this time. There are two of them about the same movie. ;-)</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>To say Sky was worried when there was still nothing about Bloom’s and Stella’s whereabouts would be an understatement. The next two hours of lessons already passed by, but nothing came up. His initial hope of getting some news by heading to Rosalind’s office were crushed when the young specialist tried the doorknob only to realize it’s been shut, probably with magic. He knocked a few times in hopes somebody from the inside would open it. He knew that both girls were most likely still in there, but nothing happened. Instead, the young specialist tried to get the desperately needed update differently by looking for their classmates. Aisha, Terra and Musa’s class should be over as well and during lunch break there was enough time to talk about things, or at least it should be.</p><p>Once he arrived at the cafeteria, he noticed the three girls sitting in a corner, as far away from anybody else as possible with Sam as their only company. None of the other kids dared to approach them, knowing they had Bloom and Stella as their suite mates. In addition, most of the fairies heard the gossip about their classes by now and nobody wanted to be near the teens that attracted trouble like a magnet. He noticed the way their heads hung low, out of exhaustion or defeat Sky didn’t know, but he hoped it wasn’t the latter. If it took the new headmasters only a few hours crushing some of the strongest minds at Alfea he wondered what they had in store for them for the rest of the year. Not even talking about the next few years that still awaited them.</p><p>Their heads all shot up simultaneously, like a deer caught in headlights. Any other day he would have laughed and made a silly joke but the worry about Bloom and Stella tightened his throat and he gulped nervously before greeting them.</p><p>“Hey guys. Sorry it took a little longer. What did I miss?”</p><p>“Ummm. It’s just one of the new teachers. Apparently, Rosalind also saw it fit to switch some of the staff against new teachers and one of them is our teacher for potions classes. A total jerk and complete suck up to our ‘great headmistress’”, Musa used quotation marks to emphasize her point before she continued “Anyway that guy is moody all the time and… And nothing we do is ever right. We were told to make a new potion today and the recipe itself wasn’t too hard and most of us did quite good. But he always found something new to complain about. Like a little spoiled brat who’s unhappy that he only got 35 instead of 37 presents for his birthd…”</p><p>“Musa!” Aisha scolded her “But she’s right. That guy is completely weird and everyone hated him instantaneously. Well except for Beatrix but that girl is almost as messed up as him. Didn’t know it could get any worse than her.”</p><p>They had a hard time containing their snickers, none of them wanted to gain the attention of the other teens on the tables around them. Their subtle laughers faded after another minute and they looked at each other, communicating without any words. Over the past few weeks at Alfea it has become somewhat like his group, a group with mostly girl in it, but his group nonetheless. Who needed words, risking to have people eavesdrop, when they could summon up the most important stuff without any, unfortunately though the next topic would need to be addressed verbally.</p><p>“As much as I like chatting with you all I somewhat hoped you might have any updates on Bloom or Stella. I couldn’t find out anything and I’m really worried now.”</p><p>“There is nothing new yet. Have you tried it at Rosalind’s office? She might not be the most forthcoming person but hopefully you can get something from her. Maybe tell her some stupid lie.” Terra’s idea sounded reasonable and to be honest Sky hadn’t thought what he wanted to do once he got somebody from the office answering to his knocking but sadly, he already knew the outcome.</p><p>“I tried already but nobody is there or at least they keep the door shut. Probably with some kind of magic. Got anything else?” Maybe there was something else he missed.</p><p>“I am not sure. Maybe your father knows something about it? Do you know where he is?”</p><p>“Sorry Terra but I haven’t seen him since class, earlier this morning. He already said earlier that the later classes will be led by somebody else because he got some other stuff to take care of.” If the girls didn’t know anything and the office was sealed there weren’t any options for left, but to wait until the girls came back from detention.</p><p>“I don’t know what else to do Sky. Sorry.” Terra shot both the other girls and her brother a look asking for help but they were as clueless as her. Hopefully the teens would get their answers soon, especially Sky who worried for both his girlfriend and ex-girlfriend. Sure, their relationship was rocky at best before they ultimately split up, but it didn’t mean he cared any less for her safety. Though she probably had better chances of getting out unharmed with being the crown princess and all, than Bloom.</p><p>“So, what do we do then Terra? We can’t just wait and hope for the best. Damn it. You should have seen the kid earlier during the specialists training… You did see him?!”</p><p>“Sam and I did. You know being good with plants and helping our dad out at times they needed somebody to look after his wounds. I agree they look horrible but it’s not what Rosalind would do. There might be something bad, but I highly doubt it will be anything physical.”</p><p>“You’re probably right. I guess there is nothing left to do but waiting. If you find out anything give me call. You all got my number and if I know anything, I’ll call one of you, deal?” The other’s nodded at this. Terra’s words aren’t what Sky hoped for, but the little assurance was better than nothing. The rest of lunchtime was met with silence until the bells announced the next classes starting soon and they dispersed again. The group tried to get news at any chance possible in the upcoming classes, but nothing came out of it. Finally, it was time to return to the suite and the lurched their way back slowly. How could one day prove to be so horrible already?</p><p>They all had their pajamas on sitting quietly in the living room, only waiting for Bloom and Stella to show up but nobody came through the door. After another hour they decided to finally give up and get some rest when suddenly the doors flung wide open, revealing two exhausted fairies.</p><p>The haunted looks in their eyes, doubled with the tired expression answered as many questions for them as it opened new ones. Aisha, Musa and Terra looked at each other, contemplating on what to say while the other two fairies shuffled towards them but before any of them could utter a word Bloom collapsed. Aisha shot forward and caught the redhead midfall. Something was seriously wrong and by the looks of it, Stella wasn’t in the condition to answer any questions either. Musa helped the blonde into her room to get changed while Terra and Aisha tried helping the unconscious Bloom.</p><p> </p><p>He groaned into his pillow out of annoyance, as the typical wake up call came. Saul didn’t like to be woken at such ungodly hours and back at Alfea every teacher plus most of the students knew not to approach the specialist before his second coffee in the morning but now that he got stuck in a prison there wasn’t much of a choice. He grumbled some halfhearted curses as he descended towards the door to get his breakfast. It had been a couple of days since the initial interrogation and he hoped dearly to get away from another for at least some time.</p><p>His recovery was now one of the main priorities in the prison. There was no way he’d survive their cruelties if he didn’t take any proper rest in between. His ribs were still extremely sore, some of them most likely broken, and his chances of seeing a doctor any time soon were almost zero. If they wanted to break him, they wouldn’t give him the luxury of a good recovery. Today’s breakfast meal was the same as always but luckily, he found a way to digest the soup like substance on his second day. It involved plugging your own nose and drown it in one big gulp, but hey, he would need all the strength he could get and if they only got this mushy substance than it would have to do.</p><p>Saul almost didn’t notice the clicking sound of boots on the metal floor until they stopped in front of his prison door. The floor in the prison was luckily made out of some material that made a sound every time you move which allowed an attentive person like him to listen for other people’s approach. He cursed his own stupidity to let his tiredness get the better of him. Memories of his last interrogation suddenly flooded back into his mind and it took must of his willpower to not empty his stomach again in the fastest way possible.</p><p>He put the bowl aside and stood tall, not showing any signs of weaknesses against the people who held him here. The door slid open and he mentally prepared himself for the inevitable but there was… nobody. His door opened without any guards entering the cell to subdue him. Confused by this, he slowly approached the door and peaked outside carefully. All the other doors were slowly opened, one by one, and the men left their confinements without a second thought. <em>Weird… Didn’t expect them to allow me around other prisoners,</em> he thought drily. However, Saul didn’t waste any more time in case they would change their minds and went into a crowd of prisoners. They all followed a certain path, a direction, he couldn’t help but wonder where they were going. The space got tighter the more prisoners were allowed out of their cells, making it a tiny bit difficult getting fresh air into the lungs, but soon the tight feeling lifted as the group dispersed into an open area outside.</p><p>Well, not exactly “outside”, seeing that they were still prisoners, not allowed to leave the grounds, but in an open area. It was all surrounded by the buildings, electrical fences, towers for the guards… To summon it up: It would be almost impossible to plan an escape from here. He noticed some of the men with rune limiters around their wrists. Clearly, they didn’t want the fairies escape with a little help of magic and why bother putting them in special prison when they had ways to subdue their magic? Saul remembered the day when their trio went out a few weeks back, trying to find Bloom and Beatrix. It was at the last second that Farah put a set of those limiters into her pockets before they drove out to find them. He wasn’t against the usage of such things, far from it, but the faked expression of hurt on the teens face when they tried getting information out of her caused an uneasy feeling in the pit of his stomach. Of course, Farah would never go as far and hurt one of her own students on purpose, unlike a certain mentor, but it wasn’t easy to forget the pain glistering in her eyes as the girl screamed.</p><p>He just hoped that Farah and Ben were both okay. After a few nights in the cold cell, he still couldn’t find a plausible explanation how his fairy friends could get out of the situation unharmed. It frightened him to core not knowing when or if he would ever get to see their faces again. If he would get to see the mischievous twinkle in Ben’s eyes whenever he outsmarted Saul, which truth to be told happened more often than the specialist liked to admit. Or if he would ever see the glow and caring love Farah showed to her students, every time these young minds felt downcast. These kids, their students, didn’t know what it was like to suffer from the hands of a person as cruel and frightening as Rosalind. The specialist would need to get out of here soon if he wanted to help them, but it seemed more impossible with every second passing. The security looked almost impenetrable, nearly perfect, but Saul wouldn’t be the man he is today if he didn’t find any mistakes in it.</p><p>Out of the corner of his eye he noticed a group of guys moving into his direction. He immediately knew what they wanted and under normal circumstances Saul wouldn’t shy away from a fight, but the injuries were still fresh and he couldn’t risk them getting worse, not while he planned an escape at least. He looked around frantically in hopes of finding a good diversion, but time was getting short as the other men came closer. In another corner a group of almost equally strong men talked amongst them. The specialist already noticed the hateful looks between some of the groups earlier and didn’t take a genius to figure out the mutual hatred between both groups.</p><p>“Hey guys. Umm sorry to break to you but these morons mentioned how weak you all are. I don’t think it’s true but maybe you want to check for yourselves.” It didn’t take long for them to gather everybody and meet the other group halfway. The spite between two sides of meatheads throwing insults, which resulted into a fight not even a minute later, was hilarious. These men were not the brightest kind and the scene unfolding in front of him, because of him, was almost comically amusing.</p><p>Quickly he used the distraction getting as far from both groups away as possible before another, seemingly smarter guy approached him. “Hey you there. Noticed the little bit of trouble you got yourself into over there. If you want, you can stay over there with my group.” The man gestured behind to a small assembly. These men, in comparison to the muscle machines earlier seemed more like the brighter kind. He nodded and the two made their way towards the group.</p><p>Several of them sized Saul up when they came to greet the rest, the distrusting looks were visible on all their faces most of them lighted up after the initial introduction giving Saul a positive feeling that his time in prison would be more doable now.</p><p>He found a group that would give him some security while in the prison and all that was left for him was to figure a way out now. Hopefully he wouldn’t be too late.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Sneaky Saul... and what happened to make Bloom collapse? I hope you found the the reference. Feel free to comment.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0008"><h2>8. Chapter 8</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Next chapter. Yay... It's not long, only a few weeks until I can update more frequently</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>A mess. Aisha always liked to have a clean room. One reason why her and Bloom would but heads during their time in Alfea. The two roommates got along famously except for this. The fire fairy usually kept her part of the room like a bomb exploded, while the water fairy kept everything as neat as the office she sat in. In the beginning, it annoyed her to no end until she decided to clean up the biggest of Bloom’s mess whenever they fight over it. If she didn’t, her other suitemates would have gone feral at them for all their bickering. Terra even went as far to command one of the plants in their room to smack both of them on the back of their heads with a branch one time.</p><p>Now the room was in a big mess again but for different reasons. Her earth fairy friend ran through the school at the crack of dawn, to get her father over to the suite after Bloom collapsed in their arms. She wasn’t in a life-threatening situation, but Terra had no idea what caused Bloom to be like this. Ben, the ever prepared one, took a set of ointments and potions with him in a bag as they hurried to help the redhead. These potions, along some other things, were hastily placed all around Bloom’s bed while Ben made his assessment of the situation. It was a small miracle that the guards allowed Terra to get her dad out of his room, but she wouldn’t look a gifted horse into its mouth.</p><p>The girls all sat around Bloom’s bed, dressed for the day, except Stella who had gone out early in the morning because she needed to take care of some business apparently, anxiously waiting for any news. Musa kept her headphones on, sitting in the corner as far away as possible but still keeping an eye on the situation. All of their emotions spiked the moment Bloom and Stella arrived at the suite last night, up to a point where it was too much for the young empath to endure. Terra sat at the end of Bloom’s bed, caressing her feet to give some sense of comfort to not only the fire fairy, but herself as well. The exhaustion in Bloom’s expression shortly before her eyes lulled back into her head and the following collapse frightened her to the core. On the left side of the bed sat Aisha, mumbling over what to do now while holding on of the redhead’s hands. There needed to be something they could do, something to help their friend and calm all of their nerves.</p><p>Ben sat on the other side, quietly working his magic on the young student unconscious in front of him while casting an occasional glance to the other girls. When Terra arrived last night at his rooms, reporting about the incident at their suite he felt a deep worry for all of them. The sight of seeing a friend that badly hurt wasn’t something they could get ever truly forget. Especially for these kids, who have no idea what it’s like to watch these kinds of things on almost a daily basis. Back when Ben, Saul and Farah went to school there were always enough injuries for him to tend to. Mostly because Saul, Andreas or David would get into stupid situations that resulted in Rosalind’s wrath as punishment. The three other guys in his group plus would play pranks all day long to get rid of the depressing thoughts hovering over their heads. One time his assigned specialist had a couple of nails plunged through her left foot on accident, they needed to get it out without the staff knowing that it was stuck in her foot in the first place. The fear of being caught and thus possibly thrown out of school was indescribable. Now the situation was remotely similar, but they wouldn’t get around letting Rosalind know what happened.</p><p>“Terra. Would you mind giving me the vial on the left side, the one with a silvery glow please?”, his question snapped all of them out of their thoughts and back to the situation at hand. He looked at his daughter only to notice the fear induced tears glistering in her eyes, threatening to fall at a moment notice. She nodded with her head in response, too afraid of betraying her own fear by using her voice, but it was no use since everybody in the room felt exactly the same.</p><p>Shakingly her hand extended over to the mess of vials on the desk. He cringed internally at the sight of it, the disorder wasn’t on the top ten list of things he is proud of but in the hurry they were in, he didn’t care about it.</p><p>“He… Here you go dad.”, her voice shook from the emotions, we wanted to nothing but hold her in his arms right now but that could wait until later.</p><p>“Thank you sweety. Why don’t you all go and look where Stella is. I still have a bit more to get done here and I’m sure that your suitemate wouldn’t want to be later for classes today after yesterday’s debacle…”</p><p>“There is no need looking for me.” They all looked up to see the person in question. Stella was dressed as stylish as always, never having a single day where her dresses weren’t a competition to most models. However, the tired look stood awkwardly in contrast to her outer appearance. Dark circles were formed around her eyes and the constant scowl on her face seemed to have deepened by several steps, plus the way her shoulders were sagging it was painfully obvious how much the whole ordeal still affected her.</p><p>To their surprise Stella didn’t come alone. Next to her was a guy, a head taller with dark blonde hair and an athletic physical built. His clothing was nothing out of the ordinary, a pair of jeans combined with a white shirt and brown leather jacket. The only thing to stand out was the weapon attached to his hip and the insignia of the Solarian royal guard woven into his jacket. Ben knew immediately why the young man was here, though he couldn’t say the same thing for the girls. Aisha was eyeing him suspiciously and Terra looked ready to jump up and defend their unconscious friend. Only Musa sat somewhat relaxed, most likely because she read the strangers emotions, Ben figured.</p><p>“Who’s this guy? And what is he doing here?” Aisha asked their suitemate.</p><p>“Remember when I told you that my mom assigned some personal bodyguard to me. Well, this him. He arrived this morning.” Stella explained to them rather bored.</p><p>“And what is your name? We can hardly call you guy all the time, or bodyguard.” Aisha continued with her little interrogation. She didn’t like how some stranger stood in the middle of hers and Bloom’s room, uninvited, but there was no choice. They would have to endure his presence from now on.</p><p>“Name’s Brandon. Pleasure to meet you all.”</p><p>His crisp response annoyed the girls a little. They weren’t used to anyone’s shortcoming in their conversation. Stella rolled her eyes at him, already irritated by his behavior, Musa stuck her tongue out at him, though he didn’t see it from his viewpoint. Aisha huffed, desperate for more answers and annoyed she wouldn’t get them, and Terra was breathing heavily. The poor girl had a long night with constantly looking after Bloom and the night before where they ventured out to the graveyard, she was extremely tired.</p><p>“What are you doing here Brandon? I mean beside being a stalker to Stella for the next few months.” Musa, who by now had put away her headphones, whistled impressed and Stella snorted to hide a laugher. They didn’t expect Terra out of all people to be so brash. This part usually belonged to either Stella or Aisha, but not the sweet, overly kind Terra. Ben looked like he wanted to scold his daughter but waited for a moment, going over things in his mind, before grinning a bit himself. He couldn’t show his own amusement as openly as the girls. His position as a teacher demanded professionalism of him but it was still a fun sight for everybody. Even Brandon, who chuckled a little, much to their confusion.</p><p>“What’s so funny? In case you didn’t notice we kind of had a long, rough night here!” Terra was half saying, half yelling at him now. The other girls now looked at her, a tad bit worried. Aisha put a comforting hand onto her leg. They all felt the same worry, but it wouldn’t do them any good to panic.</p><p>“Sorry. Let’s start over. To summon things up my main priorities are to make sure that the princess doesn’t get herself hurt, too much, and to make sure that she doesn’t get into too much trouble.”, he shrugged at the end as if to say, we are all stuck in the same boat for the time being.</p><p>“Not too much trouble? Clearly that means you will report any ‘misbehavior’? Who do you report then? Who are you loyal to?” Terra seemed to have calmed down at least a little. Surprisingly, the guy, Brandon, didn’t seem annoyed or anything by her questions. More so like he expected them to come.</p><p>“The queen of Solaria. I am part of her personal guard, so the queen saw it fit to assign me here. I have to report whatever her daughter does. She doesn’t care about you lot. I’d suggest that you and the princess don’t do anything to stupid while I am around. I have order to report anything that is suspicious to me, meaning I get to decide what to report and what not. Before I forget it. You all know my name now, but I don’t know any of yours and like your earlier statement, it wouldn’t be good if I had to call you girl or fairy all the time.”, his voice while nice and some sort of understanding at the beginning was now laced with authority, leaving no room but to obey. Slowly every of the girls introduced themselves. They were halfway through the introduction when Sky and Sam burst into the room.</p><p>The blonde specialist immediately went over to the young fairy lying on the bed, concern painfully visible on his face as he examined his girlfriend’s status. He came from the specialist hall to the main cafeteria in hopes of finding the girls there eating but instead he was greeted by a nervous Sam who told him everything. Apparently, Musa texted both of them in the morning the news, both good and bad, but Sky forgot to charge his phone last night and didn’t bother to before he went to the cafeteria. He cursed silently, though it was still loud enough for some people to turn their heads into his direction and enough to make Sam whistle. The two boys agreed without any words to look at the suite what happened.</p><p>If Sky wouldn’t have known any better, he might have thought that Bloom was just asleep, looking all peaceful while lying on a bed did that to people, but her pale face betrayed her miserable state.</p><p>It took him a while before he could put his focus on things other than Bloom’s face. When he did, Sky noticed the guy standing shortly behind Stella. It was somebody he never expected to see in his life again. The young man in front of him was after all trained by Saul as a specialist before he got a job in Luna’s personal guard. Brandon was only four years older than him and before the guard left Alfea, he had been somewhat of a role model for the preteen Sky. However, he couldn’t quite explain himself why Brandon would be here when Queen Luna is back in the capitol.</p><p>“Hey Sky. Long time no see.” It seemed almost as if this guy could read his thoughts. The last time they met was the day Brandon left Alfea for good. All of the girls now looked shocked between the two, even Sam and Ben interrupted what they were doing to make their own assumption.</p><p>“It really has been a while. Um… What are you doing here exactly Brandon?”, before the guard could respond Musa beat him to it.</p><p>“He’s being a little suck up to her majesty the queen of Solaria. Your friend here is supposed to babysit princess over ther…”, before Musa could say much else Sam pinched her arm hard, resulting in a friendly punch from the empath to her boyfriend, her earlier statement almost forgotten.</p><p>“She is right, in some ways. My duty for now is to be princess Stella’s personal bodyguard until the queen is satisfied. I have to report to queen Luna when Stella is out of line though it up to my judgement to tell where the line is.”</p><p>Sky merely nodded, too stunned from the fact that his former idol would now be some sort of enemy, at least with the plans they had. If things would go down the way they planned the two of them might actually have to fight. Something the young specialist wasn’t looking forward to, but he would go above and beyond to save the two parental figures in his life. Instead, he lets his focus drift back to the unconscious Bloom. He desperately wanted to know why his girlfriend wouldn’t wake up and why Stella almost looked like a walking corpse.</p><p>“What happened here. I mean Bloom is knocked out and Stella, I am terribly sorry to break it to you, but you almost look like a walking dead, despite the outfit and everything.”</p><p>Stella sighed. She knew it would come to this. Slowly the blonde sat down on the fire fairie’s bed, looking at her friend intently before addressing the whole group. “When Bloom and I were told to wait in Rosalind’s office there was nobody else but the two of us at first. It took a while but at some point our dear headmistress made her glorified entrance. The old hag told us that because we refused to push past our limits, she would take matters into her own hands now. We both didn’t know what she meant by it at first until she invaded our minds with her magic. She found some our worst memories, like the time I accidentally blinded Ricki, and made them repeat insight our mind over and over again until we complied. I am somewhat familiar with it, thanks to mom, but Bloom wasn’t. It took her a while to not resist Rosalind insight of her head and she almost transformed once but didn’t in the end. By the time we were finished both of us were completely exhausted, Bloom more so because she resisted Rosalind for so long.”</p><p>Everybody had a look of shock on their face, even Brandon who was assigned to guard Stella looked a bit surprised. None of them wanted to believe that Rosalind would take such cruel measures to get her students to the point she wanted them to be. Ben knew of course what kind of methods Rosalind used in the past but imaging her using it on the next generation, the generation of his children, didn’t sit well with him. He wanted nothing more than to protect every one of them, maybe even Brandon, but with these methods it was only a matter of time before things would get out of hand.</p><p>“As much as I would like to discuss her methods further, we need to cut down to the point. Was there anything else she did Stella? I need to know if I am supposed to help Bloom recover.”</p><p>“No Mr. Harvey. There was nothing else besides the fact that we needed to use our magic to the point she saw fit. Which was a lot by the way.”</p><p>He stroked his chin, thinking about the events Stella told him and the way the other winx described their late-night arrival. There wasn’t anything physical. All that really happened was the invasion of their mind and the magical exhaustion. “The way you described it; it sounds like Bloom used too many of her powers. She completely exhausted all of her resources and the invasion of her mind took a great toll on her as well. Even more so than you because you didn’t resist as long as she did. I will give her something to regain her strength faster, but I need all of you”, he took a small pause, looking everyone, minus Brandon, into the eyes “to go to your classes now. The first one’s will start soon and if you don’t want to be late, I suggest you leave now. There is nothing to be done about Bloom’s condition at the moment but to wait. Now go while I finish up here.”</p><p>He ushered them out, under protest, some more than others, but nobody nearly as much as Sky. The young specialist pleaded with his uncle to let him stay but Ben wouldn’t have any of it. Soon it was only him and the unconscious fire fairy left, so Ben did what he could before leaving himself.</p><p>The last few days were crucial on her. First, she had to prepare everything within a few minutes for her abrupt departure, than she had to drive out to the graveyard and dig out her former ally. The feeling of being watched somehow didn’t leave the whole time until she sat in the car and drove off, noticing teenagers standing on the edge of the hill. One of them had a mobile phone in her hands and took a photo of her car. Now she had witnesses after her and proof of her presence. Great just what she needed. The fall the day before when she made her way towards the graveyard took more of a toll on her than the tough as nails lady liked to admit. The fear of crushing the highly valuable contents almost paralyzed her. It had been a day of almost constant driving in order to get to her new hideout, only adding to her exhaustion. Sweat dropped from her forehead over her eyes, making it difficult to see properly with the droplets hanging in her view. Her car protested from the long neglect and the now newly added pressure as the Latina pushed the pickup to its limits. The sounds from the engine had her worried for a while. If she got stranded, in the middle of the night, with somebody in the back wrapped in a blanket… The woman couldn’t imagine the trouble she would get into if somebody found her this way. Carrying a dead body inside a car wasn’t a daily business after all.</p><p>By the time she reached her new hut the engine neared its expiration as the red car half drove, half hobbled along the forest way. The building was constructed of a few wooden planks, connected with a few nails here and there plus other, more natural, binding materials. To have nails you would need to buy some and Lucerna didn’t have a big chunk of money lying around to build her getaway. Instead of a door, some worn down fabric hung in front of the entrance. The fabric wouldn’t be able to block out the coldness, but it could possibly give her a sense of privacy. Not that she needed to worry about privacy, but it certainly helped calming her worries a tad bit.</p><p>The car slowly came to a halt and with the engine gave one long screeching sound. There was use for it any longer. She opened the door, getting to the back of the car to unload her ally. The blanket was smeared with oil and some other nasty substances, but it was the only thing the Latina could come up with during her rush. Carefully she took the corpse into her arms, mindful to not worsen the injuries already inflicted on it. Anything caused by her carelessness would have to be healed later again.</p><p>“Damn it lady. You put on quite some weight since we last met, didn’t you? The next time you think of dying at least visit a gym before…”, her dry excuse of a joke helped dampening the seriousness of the situation, but it made her feel guilty bad mouthing this incredible person. “Sorry. You know I didn’t mean a word of what I just said. That was the exhaustion speaking. Why am I even talking to you when you are technically still dead?” Okay maybe it was also due to the fact that the woman lived isolated for over a decade in the woods, her only companion being a dog for the longest time.</p><p>By the time her rant came to an end the woman heaved the body onto a makeshift table. On the inside of the hut were no valuable things, no hidden vaults or anything like it. She never made the track out her again after the initial building. If somebody would have followed her to the secret getaway, it wouldn’t have been much of a secret anymore. As fast as possible she sat behind the body’s head and unfolded the blanket wrapped around her. For the first time she realized how pale her face looked, contorted in a way from the pain it made the Latina swallow the bile in the back of her throat. The usually blonde hair was smeared with the soil, making it almost non-recognizable. In addition, her neck was twisted in an odd angle, its breaking would have been the cause of death and thus the first priority on her list. There was no use in reviving a dead body if the reason for its current state hadn’t been erased.</p><p>The woman started slowly, calling to her magic until her hands were ingulfed in its usual bloodred light. During the first time she wielded her magic, the woman felt mesmerized by the beauty of the light, dancing delicately around her fingertips like a song sung by the most harmonic voice. After practicing with her magic for years it slowly numbed her, but for newbies it was some of the most fascinating things you could imagine. With a careful measure she started healing the broken bones and wove the severed nerves back together. One mistake could ruin everything for the person lying in front of her so she would need to treat this with utmost caution. After half an hour of working her magic to repair the damage it was finally done. Everything had healed properly, there was one last thing to do. The amount of magic could knock her out for a minute or so, but it needed to be done, plus there were no other blood witches around to support her. Gathering her breath one last time the woman thought about the times the two women met. The blonde saved her life during the first time and finally there was her chance at paying her back. Though the fear of failure nagged at the back of her mind. If this didn’t work out, every risk, every pain brought upon herself would have been in vain. She couldn’t let it get this far.</p><p>The goldish glowing vial was now in her hands, after being stowed away for years there was its usage. Carefully she opened the lit and casted the liquid out with her magic, spreading it over her ally’s body like a secondary skin but didn’t let it touch her body just yet. Once the essence was spread out evenly, she let it sink into the other woman’s body. First, the reaction of the goldish liquid felt like a rebellion. It didn’t like to be used at something so unresponsive. The first flux caused only more use of magic on her end until the substance finally yielded and fused with the body, the way it was supposed to. The body in front of her glowed the same way as the liquid did before, intensifying for another moment before slowly settling down. Her vision blurred for a moment, unlike the expected unconsciousness, it made her only a bit lightheaded. Once the fog around her focus cleared, she was met with a pair of brown, warm eyes staring back at her. Brown eyes, full of life. She could have screamed in joy, the success nullifying every rational thought until her gaze landed on the confused expression before her.</p><p>“Who are you?”, okay maybe Farah didn’t recognize her any longer. Sixteen, almost seventeen years passed since the last time they saw each other.</p><p>“I am Lucerna. Remember how we met… Umm twenty something years ago… and again about sixteen years back.”</p><p>Instead of seeing the expected recognition lighting up the woman’s face she was met with a puzzled expression that soon morphed into to one of worry, even more so panic. The way Farah looked at her, something must have gone wrong. Even after telling the blonde her name there was no recognition. However, nothing was as frightening as the next words that left Farah’s mouth.</p><p>“I can’t remember. Not you, not this place. Nothing… Who am I?”</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Some question are finally answered but new ones opened instead... ;-)</p>
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